McDonald, Picard break par, but Warriors fall to Milpitas
By Dick Sparrer
Connor McDonald and Brent Picard were both beating par when the Westmont golf team recently opened the 2001 season .
Did the performance of the two come as any surprise to Westmont head coach Dave Cripe? Not really.
Did their performance give Cripe cause to pick his Warriors to win a league championship this spring? Not exactly.
Westmont plays in the rugged Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. And even though Cripe considers McDonald and Picard to among the best in the league this season, he knows how tough the field is in the division.
"This is the so-called power division," said the coach, whose teams plays with Leland, Valley Christian, Willow Glen, Lincoln, Leigh, Oak Grove and Santa Teresa in the Mount Hamilton circuit. "We have some experience, but probably not enough talent to challenge the leaders."
"So I expect we'll finish somewhere in the middle," he added, "but who knows? We might surprise."
McDonald and Picard "are expected to lead the team," said the coach. They each shot a one-under 33 at the Spring Valley Golf Course last week, but the Warriors lost a 187-189 heartbreaker to Milpitas in a nonleague match.
McDonald, a junior, and Picard, a sophomore, top a list of seven returners at Westmont that also includes senior Tony DiPiero, sophomore Michael Bottenberg and juniors Casey Cripe, Scott Hermanson and Nathan Cook. Sophomore Elliott Danforth is a top newcomer for the Warriors.
Cook shot a 39, DiPiero a 41 and Danforth a 43 in last week's match against Milpitas.
Westmont will open the league season against Leigh this week. The Warriors and Longhorns collide at Summitpointe on March 6, 2:30 p.m., and at San Jose Municipal on March 8, 3 p.m.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
