There doesn’t appear to be any team in the Solano County Athletic Conference capable of defeating Benicia High’s girls golf team.
The Lady Panthers dusted off American Canyon, 263-301, Thursday at Chardonnay Golf Course, running their record to 5-0 in the SCAC. Every other team in the conference has at least two losses, and it looks inevitable that Benicia will go unbeaten in the SCAC for a fifth straight year.
“We’re just cruising along through league,” said happy Benicia golf coach Nan Prolo.
The Lady Panthers didn’t even have their top golfer on the course. Freshman sensation Sofia Young couldn’t play due to an illness, so junior Jennifer Eleccion stepped up and fired a 41 to earn her first medalist honor of the season. Rachel Mahrt shot a 45 for the second-best round of the day under tough conditions.
“It was windy out there and Chardonnay is a challenging course in itself,” Prolo said. “We did fine.”
Senior Kelsey Cassick made her 2014 debut and shot a respectable 58. Catherine Mahrt added a 59 and Nicole Ramirez rounded out Benicia’s scorecard with a 60.
Erika Hallmark shot a 49 for American Canyon (2-2 SCAC). The Lady Wolves are missing Sarah Chang, who graduated last spring as a four-time SCAC individual champion and three-time Most Valuable Golfer.
Chang has moved on to Wheaton College in Illinois and was just named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s Women’s Golfer of the Week. Chang leads the Thunder with an 82.3 strokes-per-round average this season. In the first two tournaments of the year she has a top-five finish and a top 10 finish to her credit.
Benicia takes on winless Bethel on Tuesday at Blue Rock Springs.