Coaches: Scott Enrico (head coach), Ron Newton (assistant coach)
Top Returning Players: Andrew Choi (10), Jonathan Jeon (10), Caleb Kim (11), Dylan Lee (11), Dino Torres (12),
Top Newcomers: Felipe Jikal (9), Troy Kwon (10)
Last Season: The Lancers (15-2, 8-0 in the Freeway League) won their 19th consecutive Freeway League title and were the CIF-SS Division 1 team champions. The CIF individuals qualfiers did not advance past the Southern California Golf Association Regional State Qualifier after competing at the CIF Individual Regional Tournament.
“It was a good run for the boys, [and] we accomplished our primary goal of winning the league,” Enrico said. “[Jonathan] winning the Freeway League MVP, getting five boys to qualify for CIF Individuals and winning CIF [as a] team was extra sweetness.”
Outlook: As this year is their last Freeway League before the releaguing next year, the Lancers hope to defend their league title and advance further in CIF.
“It’s pretty cool that the golf team has made it this far because 20 years is a really long time,” Jeon said. “My main goal for this year is to hopefully get league MVP once again, but it’s going to be a struggle because all of us are good.”
Although Enrico has been the coach for four of the 19 league titles, he said he anticipates another successful run.
“I expect our boys to get their 20th consecutive Freeway League title,” he said. “We are the best team in the league [so] barring something horrific, our boys should capture the title.”
The head coach said although the current squad is very strong, he still sees areas for improvement for the upcoming season.
“We can always work on short games, [which is] chipping and putting,” he said. “Our boys can hit their drives a ton, but short games are where [they] pull away from opponents.”
Despite losing former top player Jeffrey Kwak to graduation last season, Jeon said he believes the team will continue to dominate the competition.
“I honestly don’t think that we are going to lose,” the sophomore said. “None of the other schools have golf teams that are better than us, and our team is still the best.”
Senior Owen Dominguez, who is in his first year on the varsity squad, said he looks forward to the upcoming season and wants to play as much as possible.
“For this season, some of my goals would be to play on the CIF team and just perform better than I have in previous years [as a JV player],” Dominguez said. “As for the team goals, even though our varsity team is really strong, I think, if anything, we can just improve on getting to know each other and building a better team dynamic than what we already have.”
Jeon said he also expects to see better results during individual CIF playoffs.
“I hope that this season we will be able to advance past the regionals and hopefully get someone near the top of the singles leaderboard,” he said. “Personally, I will be looking to get that spot, but if anyone [else] on our team gets it, that would be great.”
The group played its first preseason match on Tuesday, Feb. 27, against Villa Park High School, beating its opponents by 10 strokes at Green River Golf Club in Corona.
“Looking at our dominance from the preseason game, I think that we are going to continue our winning streak,” Lee said. “One thing I am worried about though is the individual CIF competition because I want the [individual players] to make it to states.”
The boy’s golf team won its first league match on Tuesday, March 26, against Sonora High School at La Mirada Golf Course with a score of 184-249, improving its overall record to 9-1. As of Friday, April 5, the squad increased its overall score to 11-1 and its league score to 3-0. The Lancers will next play on Tuesday, April 9, against the Troy Warriors at the Los Coyotes Golf Course.
