The school’s Cardinal boys golf team (20-2) secured another New Coastal League win at the two-day North County Conference Championship, competing against Carlsbad High School, Canyon Crest Academy, La Costa Canyon High School, Sage Creek High School, and San Dieguito Academy on May 7.
The team shot 15-under-par 345 with a five stroke lead to LCC on the first day at Twin Oaks Golf Course and 7-over-par 367 the second day at Pala Mesa Golf Course. While Cardinal took the team championship, Oregon State University commit Ethan Elleraas (12) placed third and Cardinal teammate Evan Liu (10) placed fourth in the individual league tournament.
“It’s nice to play and get out to play and compete,” Liu said. “[But] I felt tired. I just played the day before, and there’s also the dread of having to miss school and make-up homework.
After an eagle on hole two at Twin Oaks, Elleraas found himself hitting out of bounds from the tee box. When he looks back on this moment later, he recounts no difference between his game on the second and third hole, and yet he walked away from hole three at even par after a double bogey. Nevertheless, he did not let it rattle him.
“I hit it out of bounds and into a house, then I had to re-hit it onto the green to putt it in for five,” Elleraas said. “I feel like it’s pretty random. I don’t even know how [it happened] to be honest. It was pretty early in the round, so it didn’t really bother me too much.”
Despite the early setback, Elleraas bounced back to shoot a five under 67 and a three under 69 at Pala Mesa Golf Course. Teammate Liu finished seven under overall to place fourth individually.
“For the team score, you take six cards, count five and drop the worst one, or the highest score,” Liu said.
The conference was a two-day, 36-hole stroke play tournament that included both the Avocado and New Coastal League.
“Both of our teams won their leagues,” Chris Drake, varsity and jv boys and girls golf coach and AP U.S. History teacher, said. “The Cardinal Squad is in the New Coastal League, and they got first place, and then the Gold Squad is in the Avocado League, and they got first place.”
Gold player Maxwell Wrolstad (11) was also the Avocado League individual champion. Both the Cardinal and Gold (20-2) teams performed well despite soft course conditions caused by recent rain at Twin Oaks and Pala Mesa golf courses.
“Twin Oaks [bunkers] were a little bit crusty, and I think it had a lot to do with the rain … so the footprints were more pronounced and they had public play beforehand,” Liu said. “At Pala Mesa, it was on the slower side because they got some rain earlier in the week, but the greens rolled pretty well and they were smooth.”
Santiago Bosch (11), who shot a two under 70 at Twin Oaks and two over 74 at Pala Mesa, also noted that the tee boxes were “hard to hit off.”
At Twin Oaks, the team played from the forward white tees at about 6,300 yards, compared to their usual 6,800 yards from the black and blue tees.
As the team looks ahead to CIFs, they are focused on staying level-headed and consistent.
“It’s really important to keep your head down and keep pushing because if you relapse at all, you’re losing out on the other people that don’t,” Liu said.
