With solid team consistency, Loyola and Servite won their respective Regional Division titles in the CIF-SS Team Championships played May 13 and 14.
Loyola won the Central Region, played at Lakewood Country Club, with a cumulative total of 369 (the top five scores of the six-man team are counted). The Cubs’ team included Justin Lee (73), Daniel Nunez, Brian Arnold Jr., Timothy Von der Ahe and Justin Wallender (each with 74), and Joshua Yoo (78).
Chaminade senior Ethan Kim tied for second-best individual score at 71. St. Francis was third in the team event at 381, just missing out on advancing to the CIF-SS SCGA Team Qualifier on May 16, which matches the top two teams from each of the seven regionals.
In the Northern Region event at Santa Anita Golf Course, Servite’s 358 was one stroke better than runner-up Mater Dei’s 359, which enables both to advance to the Team Qualifier. Servite’s team included Alax Hanz (70), Ben Hong and Brendan Gonzalez (71 each), Nic Harrison and William Sung (73 each), and Cameron Xiao (77).
For Mater Dei, Jaden Cantafio and Andrew Hoekstra each had 69, the low individual score of the regional, while Robert Keilch shot 72, Ryder Henares 73, and Ryan Pham and Robert Compean 76 each.
No other Catholic teams advanced from the other five regionals. In the Southern Regional at Mile Square Golf Course, the top individuals included Matthew Ingram, St. John Bosco freshman (69), and Stevenson Wang, Santa Margarita sophomore (71).
The individual finals will be played May 16 in conjunction with the Team Qualifier at Goose Creek Golf Club, Jurupa Valley. Individuals who previously qualified at last week’s individual regionals include Mater Dei’s Cantifio and Keilch, Servite’s Sung, Chaminade’s Kim, Loyola’s Lee, Nunez and Von der Ahe, Crespi’s Ivan Barahona and J.Serra’s Caden McMackin.
The top four teams from the Team Qualifier, plus the top 28 individual players who are not part of a team already advancing, qualify for the CIF/SCGA Southern State Regional Championships on May 23 at Brookside Golf Course, Pasadena. The State Championship will be played May 29 at Poppy Hills Golf Course, Pebble Beach.
Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).
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