Carson tunes up for tournament

A 376 team score in itself would have been enough to please Carson High School boys golf coach Paul Croghan.

The Senators went one better. They shot the 376 and also walked off the Eagle Valley East Course with a two-stroke victory against Sacramento area power Jesuit on Monday afternoon.

John Chirila fired a under par 71 to earn medalist honors on a day when seven strokes separated Carson's five scoring players.

"Beforehand, I said that I thought we would shoot 385; we surpassed that by nine shots, so yes, I'm very pleased," Croghan said. "This was a good tune-up for our tournament on Wednesday."

Fifteen schools from Northern California and Nevada will be represented at the ninth annual Dick Stoddard Memorial Carson Invitational, which will be held Wednesday and Thursday at Eagle Valley.

Carson had plenty to write home about on Monday because Jesuit won its Sac-Joaquin Section championship in 1998 and finished fourth last year, although the Marauders were without University of Texas-bound Jason Hartwick. Still, Croghan was more focused on the scores his own Senators turned in.

"John was a little disappointed, he was 3-under at one time and then he had a couple of bogeys, but 71 is still a pretty good score," Croghan said.

Justin Bryant and Nick Carlson shot 74 and 76 respectively for the Senators. The scores were season-bests for both juniors.

"This wasn't a total surprise. We knew all along they're capable of shooting scores like that," Croghan said. "This should be very good for their confidence."

Steve Prehm carded a 77 and Josh Bratzler 78 to round out Carson's scoring. Toby Steele shot a non-scoring 79.

The Carson Invitational tees of Wednesday with a 1 p.m. shotgun start on Eagle Valley's East Course. Play resumes Thursday at 8 a.m. on the West Course.

"It should be a pretty good field

The list of California entries includes Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland), Sonora, Eureka, Liberty (Brentwood), Tioga (Groveland), Acalanes (Lafayette), College Park (Pleasant Hill), Campolindo (Moraga), Valley Christian (San Jose) and Pittsburg. Fallon, McQueen, South Tahoe and Galena will join host-Carson in representing the Northern 4A conference.

The team championship race could be an interesting one, highlighted by the presence of top drawer programs from both sides of the stateline.

-- Galena, Nevada's defending 4A state champion, is led by two-time state champ Travis Whisman plus Bryson Young.

-- Carson, the runner-up at its tournament last year behind Northern California power Davis, won three straight Northern 4A zone titles between 1996-98 and is challenging to return to the top of the ladder again this spring.

Meanwhile, Liberty, Acalanes and O'Dowd are teams to watch from the Bay Area.

-- Liberty leads the Bay Valley Athletic League with its 14-1 record after taking a showdown from De La Salle and Clayton Valley last Friday - the Lions shot 185 for nine holes at Discovery Bay Country Club behind a 1-under par 34 from junior Matt Wilson and even-par 35 from fourth-year varsity veterans Jay Westerlund and Zach Spinuzzi.

-- Acalanes is 12-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League behind senior Brian Duckworth, who leads his team with a 37.8 average. Duckworth, who tied for seventh at last year's North Coast Section Tournament, has accepted a scholarship from U.C. San Diego.

-- O'Dowd is led by Matt Min-Q Park of O'Dowd, the tournament's individual champion as a freshman in 1998, and third-place finisher last year with a 151 score. Eureka has also been a force in its Humboldt-Del Norte League this spring.

The Carson tournament is named in memory of Dick Stoddard, a former Carson golf and basketball standout who died in 1997 after a long battle with cancer.