The Carson High girls golf team hopes that all the hard work it has put in over the summer will pay off.
Carson will begin to find out if all of its hard work has paid off today when it opens the season. The obvious goal for the Senators is to be one of the top four Sierra League teams to qualify for the Northern 4A Championships, something that Carson just missed out on doing last season.
Second-year coach Terry Gingell also believes his team may even have a chance at a top two finish in the zone event, which would earn it a berth into the NIAA 4A State Championships to be held Oct. 18 and 19 at a site to be determined in Northern Nevada.
The biggest change in this year's schedule is that all of the Northern 4A teams will no longer compete against each other in regular season tournaments. Schools in the High Desert League will compete against each other in their own tournaments with teams from the Sierra League competing against each other in their own events.
The first Sierra League tournament is today at Northgate. The top four teams in the final regular season standings from each league will advance to the zone event.
"They look pretty good," said Gingell about his nine-member team, which includes many players who were part of last year's club and two freshmen.
Leading the way will be Liz Rankl, who qualified for state last year. Gingell said Rankl spent much of her summer on the Thunder Canyon course.
"She's played a lot of golf this summer and worked on her game," Gingell said. "I think she'll do very well this year. She's really hitting the ball well. Her short game has improved."
Carson, though, will be hurt by the loss of Gabby Gallegos, who also qualified for state last year. Gallegos transferred to McQueen, but will be ineligible to compete due to the NIAA's transfer rule. Gingell said. "We'll miss her quite a bit because she's a pretty good player," Gingell said.
But Carson still has a strong nucleus returning from last year that include Samantha Wang and Grace Ray, who recently realized a highlight when she fired her first career eagle at Eagle Valley.
"They've made considerable progress from last year," Gingell said. "I expect them to improve their scores by several shots from last year."
There's also Sarah Metcalf, a talented athlete and accomplished swimmer. Rounding out the six players who will see action today are freshmen Michelle Kop and Lydia Peri, who have participated in Gingell's youth program at Eagle Valley. "They're both hitting the ball well," Gingell said. "They're both looking very good."
Others looking for playing time will be returning players Christy Borges, Gingell's daughter, Melanie Gingell and Tori Knutson.
"This year our team is better from top to bottom," Gingell said. "I think we'll be more consistent. They're working hard right now."
Galena has returned its top players and again should be the team to beat in the North. The race for the No. 2 qualifying spot into state could be wide open.
"I'm not sure how the other teams are," Gingell said. "We'll have to be obviously very good. I think actually we have a chance to go to state as a team.
"I think we'll improve through the season. I think we'll finish well. We'll see how it goes."
Charles Whisnand is the Nevada Appeal Sports Editor. Contact him at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1214.
