Angelo Classic

SA Times - On Friday, the spring golf season begins for Central High School as the girls co-host the 25th Annual San Angelo Girls Classic.

The Central boys, meanwhile, will begin their season in two weeks, and the wait may serve them well as Central head coach Rick Harvey is still in the process of finding who his top five will be. "We're still doing some qualifying," Harvey said of the boys. "I have a lot of good young ones. There may be three freshmen in the top five. That's a lot of pressure on some young kids."

On the girls' side, it is a very different story. It is a season that dawns Friday with high expectations for the experienced Lady Cats. Four seniors - Serena Sosa, Baylea Evans, Heather Tarin and Kelcey Wells - return from last year's team that won the district title and placed eighth at regionals. The only player gone from last year's top five is Megan Busker, who graduated. "There's a lot of pressure on us because of what we did last year," Wells said.

They seem up to the challenge. "Last year we were all having trouble breaking 90," Tarin said. "All of us that are coming back are solid 80s shooters now," Sosa said. "Our expectations are higher now, but because we're all seniors, we don't have anybody to look up to," Evans said. "We have to depend on each other."

Competing to fill the final spot on the girls team will be junior Breanna Vottero and senior Brittni Coates. "I've only been playing golf for two years now, so it's interesting," Vottero said. "It's been a lot of fun so far," said Coates of trying to fill the role on the top team.

Between those six players, Central golf coach Rick Harvey said he likes his teams' chances of accomplishing some big things this season. "I've got some high expectations, but there are some others teams in our district that should be really good," Harvey said. "I think it will be a battle between us and Abilene Cooper (for the district title)."

After district comes regionals, where a top-two finish is needed to vault the Lady Cats to state."Maybe," Harvey said of the team's chances of qualifying for Austin. "Southlake Carroll is shooting in the 310s, Lubbock Coronado is in the 310s. Things are really going to have to work just right." This weekend should provide a good gauge for the Lady Cats as this year's home tournament Orange Division includes four teams that qualified for state last year (5As San Antonio Reagan, San Antonio Churchill and Lubbock Coronado, and 2A state champ Wall).

25th annual San Angelo Girls' Golf Classic at a glance:

Last year's champs - Orange Division: Team- Lubbock Coronado, Individual- Sinae Montoya, Lubbock Coronado

Blue Division: Team- Snyder, Individual- Ashley Lueke, Snyder

Teams competing: Orange Division- Abilene High, Abilene Cooper, EP Coronado, EP Eastwood, EP Franklin, Lubbock High, Lubbock Coronado, Lubbock Monterey, Midland, Midland Lee, Odessa, Odessa Permian, Central, San Antonio Churchill, San Antonio MacArthur, San Antonio Reagan, Smithson Valley, Wall.

Blue Division-Aledo, Andrews, Big Spring, Denton, Hereford, Medina Valley, Monahans, Palo Duro, Pampa, Pecos, Plainview, Randall, Lake View.