LJ g golf: Tryouts 8/16

Golfers Ella Roman (left) and Maegan McNeill,

both rising sophomores, obey Coach Christie Quinn's

rules in not talking while getting in order by age

during team-building at tryouts Mon., Aug. 16,

at Riverwalk Golf Course.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Six newcomers joined four returning golfers at tryouts at Riverwalk Golf Course for Coach Christie Quinn's tryouts for La Jolla High girls golf Mon., Aug. 16.

Maegan McNeill, who insisted "Mc" makes her Irish, not Scottish, has one of the better COVID transfer-and-distance-learning stories of anyone, which she shared with new Viking teammates and a visiting reporter before taking part in a non-verbal exercise for the 10 attendees to line up in age order without sharing a word audibly.

McNeill, who is re-enrolling at LJHS as a 10th-grader this fall, said she spent first quarter in Fall 2020 doing distance learning through La Jolla--"I never set foot on campus"--then transferred to a charter school the second quarter, before finishing her challenging freshman year boarding at a school in Missouri the last two quarters. It sounded pretty grueling, but she smiled telling the story of her intrepid travels during the peak of COVID.

Freshman Isabelle Troija (left), who just putted,

moves toward her ball as Roman begins to set up

for her putt in Quinn's initial skills test

of putting for distance and accuracy.

Meanwhile, returning seniors Ebony Crandle and Mica May circulated among the group, collecting info from new members of the 2021 golf team.

The "spelling demon" name with few vowels was that of Daria Tvrdisic, an incoming ninth-grader whose mother pronounced their last name more than once and left her interviewer completely dumbfounded that a name could have so many consonants and so few vowels.

Appearing pretty athletic as she practiced some golf strokes an hour before the official start of Quinn's workout at 1 p.m.--Tvrdisic also plays water polo--Daria was asked if she had played much golf before now. "She's good--she just won't tell you," interjected her mother, who identified herself as Serbian and her husband (not present) from Montenegro--the two areas "pretty similar" in culture, she avowed

The two other returners consisted of twins Kiana and Malia Thacker (Malia is younger), both rising sophomores at LJHS.

Quinn (front left) walks out of the way after

setting up the two parallel rods (visible on green)

each girl has to putt through in rolling a ball

closest to the hole (out of view to far left).

New talent included Taliah Wendoll, a sophomore; Isabelle Troija, a freshman moving up from Muirlands Middle School; Charlotte Cantonis, a freshman; and Ella Roman, a 10th-grader who didn't play during COVID.

Quinn first formed the 10 golfers, with varied experience, into three groups putting for distance and accuracy to three respective rings placed on the green at the "instruction" area of Riverwalk near the entrance. She switched them around for another round.

Then, adjusting what "skills" she wanted to test for according to what she saw from the girls, Christie--now heading both the girls and boys programs at La Jolla for the first time this school year, with former coach Aaron Quesnell moving to fill the Athletic Director's opening left by Paula Conway's shift to Bishop's--she had the 10 putt between two rods laid parallel on the green to the "hole" a distance away.

Crandle, the senior, putted close to the hole and was the early leader in that exercise.

On Wed., Aug. 18, at 1 p.m., the La Jolla girls will switch to Balboa public golf course to play a nine-hole round among themselves. That way, Quinn can observe the girls under "play day" conditions on the course, different from Monday's putting skills challenge at Riverwalk.

Roman, in a purple golf shirt under a white visor, said she may also swim for Tom Atwell's Viking team in the spring.