Archbishop Mitty and Palo Alto survived the first round of the Central Coast Section golf playoffs Tuesday to qualify for next week’s championships.
Neither team stayed close to Stevenson, which shattered the previous CCS scoring record by nine strokes. Stevenson had a combined score of 6-under 349 at the Rancho Cañada West Course in Carmel Valley, winning the qualifier by 26 strokes over St. Ignatius.
“We have to play out of our minds to do what Stevenson did, but they did, too,” said Mitty coach John Mosunic, whose Monarchs finished third at 383. “That’s rare to do. I’ve never seen a score that low. We were just trying to finish in the top four and advance.
“We did what we were trying to do.”
Mitty senior Neerav Sharma put together his best CCS round ever, shooting a 1-over 72 to tie for eighth individually. Senior Shotaro Ban added a 75 on a windy day that hovered at 52 degrees. Shintaro Ban shot 76, Owen Lin had a 79, and James Ra posted an 81.
Palo Alto secured the fourth CCS championship bid up for grabs in the 11-team field with a 398.
The Vikings advanced to the CCS championship by four strokes, holding off fifth-place Sacred Heart Prep and San Benito.
Michael Yan led Palo Alto with a 76, Grant Raffel and Sam Niethammer shot 77s, and Mathias Schmutz had a 79.
Defending CCS champion Stevenson posted five of the lowest seven scores, with 2009 CCS individual champion Scott Riley firing a 3-under 68 to earn medalist honors.
Prospect’s Shaun Park was the only non-Stevenson golfer to break par, tying for second with a 69 to advance to the CCS Championships.
The other four team qualifiers for the May 17 championships will be decided today at Rancho Cañada.
The Falcons (18-5) and Bells (19-3) will face off for the other spot in Friday’s final.
The Vikings finished 41-1 and upset Long Beach Poly to win the CIF Division I state championship.
Schmidt helped the Lancers win three Central Coast Section titles with lockdown defense, and scored four goals as a senior. The first-team All-Mercury News selection was the team captain for Trinidad and Tobago during the FIFA U-17 World Cup last fall.
“Lauren is a very athletic and skillful defender,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said in a statement. “She has a strong ability to attack from the back and will add strength to our defense.”
