THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

Although golf is considered and individual sport, high school golf is primarily a team effort and no team in recent history has put out more effort than the Whitney High program. Consistency is the byword of prep golf since the winning score of each match is the combined scores of the top five players. Where some teams have one or two very good players, they can be hurt if players 3-5 do not do well. “(Whitney is) a steady group and we’re strong all the way down the board. Every school will have one or two really good players and then it drops off,” said Wildcats head coach Laura Faber. “My girls, I don’t have that really low player in the 30s, but they’re all steady.” To demonstrate that, the ‘Cats defeated Antelope 232-279 last week to go undefeated this season, and the Titans have an excellent player in Katie Harris. Brianna Roberson is Whitney’s No. 1 player and shoots consistently in the low 40s. She fired a 39 at Catta Verdera Country Club (the Wildcats’ home course) against Antelope, losing by only two strokes to Harris. Roberson also placed second as an individual in the Capital Valley Conference 18-hole championship at Timber Creek Golf Course in Roseville Monday. Whitney won that tournament by nearly 50 strokes. “She wasn’t taking any lessons until last year,” Faber said of Roberson, a junior. “At the end of last year she started some lessons.” Roberson takes lessons from Cherry Island’s Tim Berg, who has coached a number of Whitney’s golfers. Faber, who was recently selected as California’s Golf Coach of the Year, said she never interferes with what golf pros teach her players. She said she finds out what the athlete has learned and reinforces it. Faber has had some outstanding athletes who have gone onto college with golf scholarships; the most recent was Kelsey Uler, now playing for the University of Oregon. “(Ulep), her freshman year, we went all the way to state with her,” said Faber. “And she said as a freshman ‘Oh, I’ll be back.’ But she never made it back. That’s how tough it is; that’s how hard it is.” 2017 restarts what was a seven-year unbeaten streak in conference play. The streak was interrupted two years ago, when the ‘Cats lost one match in each of the past two years. Whitney has won league titles in the Pioneer Valley League, Capital Athletic League and Capital Valley Conference. Faber said winning in the Sierra Foothill League is going to be a real challenge. Faber started the girls golf program at Whitney, with athletes who had never seen a golf ball before. As a physical education and dance instructor, she began recruiting athletes to play golf as well, and the rest is history. “We actually began getting a few girls who actually went to First Tee and played tournaments and that helps a lot,” said Faber. “And it kind of boosts the rest of the girls and then just the whole atmosphere of the team changed to kids who were a lot more serious about the game of golf.” Roberson was a flyer on the cheerleading squad until she suffered an injury. Recognizing Roberson was in need of a new sport; Faber lured her to golf. This season, Faber has only one senior on the team, Cassandra Spanos. Although the No. 6 seed, Spanos shot 50 against Antelope to beat her opponent by 16 strokes. Other players and their scores and margins of victory were Emma Frank 47 (10 strokes), Eva Lopes 45 (18) and Charlieze Golden 51 (5). Rounding out the team were Mikayla Ayala, Nicole Clark and Kayla Dowd. Moving to the SFL will be a challenge, but California’s Coach of the Year has faced them before – and won. “I’ve been very blessed, very, very blessed with great athletes, great girls, great parents and (great results),” Faber said.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

WHITNEY GOLFERS WRAP UP ANOTHER UNDEFEATED SEASON

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 10/18/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Linsdau