The California High School girls golf teams opened the 2012 season Aug. 27 with a match against Jefferson City at the California Country Club, where the Lady Jays came away with the win with 169. California finished with 206.
Ellie Hamilton and Haley Goans led California with 49 each.
"This was a tough match for us," California Coach Lance Conner said. "Coach Bickel and the Jays have a really solid team with experience. I hoped our home course advantage would bring us closer, but it just wasn't a significant enough advantage. We're making too many big numbers and giving strokes away. Sure we are hitting good shots, but we have to play much smarter golf if we hope to compete with schools the size of Jefferson City."
California's varsity team competed at the Helias Inviational Aug. 28 at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club, where the Lady Pintos finished seventh out of 12 teams with 423.
Hamilton led California with 94 to tie for 19th place, followed by Rylee Glenn with 96, who tied for 22nd.
"We had a pretty good approach going into today's match since this is the course we hope to be playing on during Class 1 State," Conner said. "But we had a shortened squad due to illness and really missed one of our top golfers. I think we would've finished in fifth place behind Columbia and Jefferson City Schools if we had our full team. It was a positive sign to see some of our girls play better on this course than our home course."
California's varsity competed at the Osage Invitational Thursday at Dogwood Hills Golf Course, where the Lady Pintos placed second out of 10 teams with 398. Sacred Heart won the match with 347.
Hamilton led California with 95 to finish in ninth place, followed by Glenn who finished 10th with 96. Haley Goans followed with 102; Renee Roberts 105; and Becca Hamilton 109.
"This was a pretty good day for us," Conner said. "We always consider 400 the top of where we hope to be after an 18-hole tournament. Sacred Heart is a very solid team and was definitely the better team today, so we have our sights on them for the remaining matches this year."
California will host Hallsville and Camdenton at 4 p.m. Thursday.