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Lady Golfers Top Ripon Christian, Tennis Boys Fall To Knights
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On the golf course this season, Bella Ambro is one of the players suiting up for the varsity Lady Cougars. The team defeated Ripon Christian in league play this past week. Photo Contributed

Both the Escalon Lady Cougar golfers and the tennis boys faced off with Ripon Christian in Season 1 action this week, with different outcome.

The girls were able to craft a win on their home course in golf while the boys took a loss on the tennis court. Following is a brief recap of this past week’s action for those teams.

 

GIRLS GOLF

“We had two matches this week. Thankfully Monday it had stopped raining by the time we teed off and we had a dry but cold round,” head coach Kristie Cathcart said of an event hosted March 15 in Oakdale.

“None of the girls had played at Oakdale before but it was a good experience for them,” the coach added. “For never playing the course and the conditions, I thought they did good. Oakdale was only able to play at their home course once for the season, so all 10 teams played on Monday.”

Cathcart noted that, out of the seven teams that had five-plus players, Escalon took fourth with a team score of 252. Ripon was first at 232, followed by Oakdale, 244 and East Union 250 with the Lady Cougars in fourth.

“We were missing two golfers that usually have lower scores for the match,” said Cathcart.

Low round of the day for Escalon came from Lucy Allbaugh with a 41, followed by Ella MacKinnon and Sarah Bava, who each shot a 49. Also scoring were Gracie Bracco, 56; Bella Ambro, 57; Nathalia Guevara, 59.

Back at the Escalon course for a Wednesday, March 17 match, the girls hosted Ripon Christian and crafted a 194-283 win.

“Lucy has been very consistent,” Cathcart said, with Allbaugh carding the team low with a 32 on the day. “The girls are working hard with several of the girls taking lessons outside of our golf practices.”

Emma Guevara shot a 36, followed by Ella Adams, 37; Ella MacKinnon, 39; Sarah Bava, 42; Bella Ambro, 44; Nathalia Guevara, 46; Gracie Bracco, 48.

League action this week was scheduled to include a match against Central Catholic at River Oaks on March 22 and against Ripon at Spring Creek on March 23, both after The Times went to press, with a home match against Weston Ranch on March 24. Also planned, a chance for the Cougar girls and boys teams to face off against each other on Thursday, March 25.

“We have never been able to do this since we normally play different seasons,” Cathcart said. “It will be fun.

 

TENNIS

The week’s action featured just one match for the Cougar tennis boys and it was a tough one. They fell to Ripon Christian in a Tuesday, March 16 home contest. The visiting Knights swept Escalon, 6-0.

In singles, Eli Lattig fell 06, 6-7; Evan Shafter went down 2-6, 1-6. Also taking losses in singles action were Dylan Criteser, 2-6, 0-6; Michael Megenney, 3-6, 4-6; and Joshua Schut, 6-7 (4-7), 4-6.

Michael Baptista and Nikolai Lorenz teamed up for doubles and took an 0-6, 4-6 loss on the court.

Coach Jackey Blakeley said next up, the squad is scheduled to be on the court twice, both on the road. They were slated to play Tuesday, March 23 at Central Catholic after The Times went to press and will be at Weston Ranch on Thursday, March 25.

 

CROSS COUNTRY

Escalon teams ran at Woodward Park in Manteca this past week, the cross country runners going up against Manteca High.

“Both varsity boys and girls won,” head coach Rick Heflin said of his teams.

Leading the boys was Dillan Booth (second overall) 19:42, Josh Churchill 20:57, Grady Fugett 22:18, Jacen Peoples 22:24, Jose Calderon 22:30, Victor Morales 24:14.

“All times were season PRs (personal records) for our boys,” added Heflin.

For the girls, they were paced by Laura Thompson (third overall) 23:05, Karla Cordova 23:33, Belen Lechuga 24:07, Gorette Coelho 25:35, Samantha Torres 26:37, Ryan Walker 26:50. All times were season-best records for the girls as well.

The teams are scheduled to wrap up the abbreviated competitive season this week but have been working hard for six months, conditioning and preparing, Heflin explained.

“We definitely have some tough kids,” he said.