If Gilroy High golfer Kristen Campos wants to compete in the
Central Coast sectionals for the second straight year, she started
off her 2004 season the right way.
If Gilroy High golfer Kristen Campos wants to compete in the Central Coast sectionals for the second straight year, she started off her 2004 season the right way.
At Monday’s TCAL event at Hollister’s Ridgemark Golf Course, Campos finished second overall with a nine-hole 39, just one shot off the winning score.
“She played really well,” said GHS coach Eric Kuwada, whose team finished fifth overall. “That score actually included a few penalty strokes, too.”
Campos starts her junior year as the Mustangs’ top threat on the links.
Last fall, she and departed senior Andrea Hugo became the first GHS duo to ever qualify for CCS.
“She’s a competitor … very self-motivated,” Kuwada said of Campos. “I’ve already had several colleges call and ask me about her.”
She’s not a one-woman show, though.
A pair of seniors – No. 2 golfer Amy Kishimura and No. 3 Carissa Filice – return for their fourth season under Kuwada.
“Both girls could hit the ball when they started out,” he said, “but they’ve really developed other parts of their game since.”
Kuwada, now in his seventh season at Gilroy, said Kishimura and Filice are always the first ones on the range and are constantly analyzing their swings to get better.
“The sophomores and juniors can see that,” Kuwada said. “Those girls are good role models. They’re always working on some aspect of their game.”
After falling just one shot shy of qualifying last season, Filice looks to advance to CCS later in the fall. Behind her in the rotation is junior Carla Navarro and sophomores Rowena Tabilas, Amanda Bruce and Annie Cockerill, the last two of whom are competing for the sixth and final spot on varsity.
The key for all of them, Kuwada said, will occur away from the tee.
“They’ve got no problem driving the ball, but it’s that shot second and third shot that’s killing them,” he said. “So it’s just reducing the amount of mistakes from 150 yards and in and that comes about through course management and just knowing where to be.
“That’s something we’ll be working on for the next couple of weeks.”
