By Ed Piper
Seniors Amalia Parzen and Olivia Krasuski lead a strong contingent of returners for the La Jolla girls golf team under Coach Aaron Quesnell.
The Vikings graduated several members of last year's squad that finished third in CIF. However, the cupboard is more than stocked.
Chloe Kim, a returning junior, is another cog in an experienced squad that has enjoyed pretty consistent success over the last decade.
Other upperclassmen include Paige Dierlam, Kiana Seva, and Rebecca Gillison, all juniors like Kim.
Sophomores are Gloria Devitt, Aurora Preis, Mica May, and Ebony Crandle.
Incoming freshmen include Cate Alexander, Callahan Armstrong, Stella Artukovich, Chloe Lynn, Paige Repp, and Ella Stevens.
In high school golf, under CIF rules, each school team fields six players in a match against another school, with the top five golfers' scores counting. Therefore, it will be important for Quesnell's girls to jell among the top six, the top five especially, in competitive golf. In the preseason, likely varsity players would be Parzen, Krasuski, and Kim, all returners, and then Dierlam, Seva, and Gillison in the mix for one configuration of the six-player contingent.
Another very large facet of high school golf, however--apart from the competitive aspect and trying to build team points--is the camaraderie and learning aspect. For example, Gloria Devitt, who comes from an athletic family, tried out golf last year as a ninth-grader, and enjoyed it enough to come back her sophomore year.
Quesnell, a classroom teacher, is good at encouraging and supporting young student athletes as they "try out" the sport. Alongside him, Viking assistant Christie Quinn, a professional golf coach, provides a similarly nurturing, even motherly, influence among the players on the course while supplying plenty of technical expertise on skill and strategy.
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