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Fantastic Finish: Golfers Second In Section
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Escalon's Lady Cougar golfers finished their 2012 season in terrific fashion as they ended in second place in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championships at Greenhorn Creek Golf Course.

Falling just short of their goal of a first place section title, the Lady Cougars nevertheless continued an incredible six-year run which has seen them either take first in the Valley-Foothill League, or finish first or second in the Section championships. When asked about the success, Coach Rusty Fachner stated that it hasn't come without a lot of hard work by the players.

"We kind of fly under the radar, but the last six years or so, we've been very successful. I think it's a great tribute to the type of player, the type of athlete and the type of person that we have in our golf program," commented Fachner. "Our girls work their tails off and good things happen to people who work hard. The success isn't an accident."

This year the Escalon linksters were a distant second to an outstanding West Campus (Sacramento) team that had five experienced seniors in their line-up.

"West Campus is really good," Fachner noted. "We had seen them in several tournaments earlier this year and we knew how well they played. We just couldn't catch them. But that certainly doesn't take anything away from our effort. Especially when you consider the cold, wet, and windy conditions."

Fachner stated that the winds at Greenhorn were gusting at around 25 to 30 miles per hour and that the girls had to play in a constant downpour.

"The Section can't reschedule the section tournament, so we pretty much play in any and all conditions. Realistically, however, it was the same for everyone," said the coach.

The Lady Cougars, whose team score of 553 was 30 strokes behind the champions and 26 strokes ahead of third-place Bret Harte, were led in the tournament by Parker Pilati who shot a 96. Nickey Homen followed her with a 103 and Alex Peters added a 109. Piper Rockwell carded a 121 and Molly Landon had a 124 for the top five scores on the day. Sage Gabba's 135 finished out the scoring for Escalon.

For Pilati, Homen, Peters and Gabba, the Section tournament marked the final time that the seniors would play for Escalon High, as neither the team nor any individuals advanced to the Masters Tournament. The finality of it hit a couple of the players pretty hard.

"It was a great four years that these ladies have given us and I'm sad to see them go," Fachner lamented. "They've put a lot of hardware on the clubhouse walls at the Escalon Golf Course in the form of trophies and plaques. They've won our school a lot of recognition by being a good golf team and being classy individuals. I can't thank all of them enough for what they've done for our program. It will be tough to replace them."

The Lady Cougars finish their season this year as the runner-up in both the Valley-Foothill League and the Division V Sac-Joaquin Section. They had an 11-1 league record and a record of 16-2 overall. In addition, Pilati, Homen and Peters all earned All-League honors.

"It was a great season, what more can I say?" concluded Fachner.