Many sports this season have ended on high notes; however, some of these journeys do not end with league, instead they will begin to go up against schools in our surrounding area in what is known as the California Interscholastic Federation league (CIF), as well as newer competition. One of the sports competing in the league is Aliso Niguel High School’s very own girls golf Team.
Both the players and the coaching staff have been anticipating the chance of CIF for quite a long time. They have been dedicating much of their time in order to hone their skills, strengthen their swings, increase putting accuracy and learning as much as they can in order to compete well and possibly win.
The average setup for CIF in other sports is that the teams will go up against one another in a single-elimination bracket. Girls’ Golf is different, with them technically having two forms of CIF, with one being individuals, with multiple people competing alone while representing their school and teams where the whole group of players competes for their school.
With the Girls team, they had four entered for round one of individuals in CIF, with two of those girls advancing into the second, with them being the sisters Rhyan (10) and Taylor Heine (9). Rhyan Heine advanced into the third round of individuals for CIF, her being able to score a 77 in the second round, placing her in a playoff with 8 others competing for 4 slots.
Coach Turney says, “She ended up getting one of those slots by having pars on the first two holes, which is pretty cool.”
CIF is one of the last opportunities this team has to improve on their strokes, get below par and also face tougher and new challengers from different high schools. Throughout the season, the Girls Golf team has gone against teams like Beckman High School, San Clemente High School, and others; however, CIF covers our entire section, not just the immediate area, meaning they have the chance to face new adversaries.
While the events of individuals were underway, the girls also had team CIF with them going to Victorville on Nov. 4. Out of the 22 teams, all from different parts of Southern California, the Aliso Niguel Girls were able to tie for sixth place, a very nice placement for them this year; however, they continue to have the aspirations for winning it all.
The outside appearance of Golf may seem like a constant of calm tides; however, it has its fair share of challenges like mental wear, physical taxation, trial and error while on the course and the constant stream of tough opponents.
Turney says, “It is hard to be consistent. What can work for one week might not for the other, so we remind the kids to grind it out and find a way to score after a tough hole since no two holes are the same.”
