SANTA ROSA — Kelseyville High School”s golf squad landed an at-large berth on Wednesday and will be one of the 20 teams competing Monday during the North Coast Section Championships at Rooster Run Golf Club in Petaluma.
Six at-large berths were available in the 20-team field and only six teams applied during the at-large meeting held Wednesday in Santa Rosa, according to Kelseyville coach John Berry, whose Knights finished one game behind St. Vincent in the final Coastal Mountain Conference South standings this season.
CMC South third-place team St. Helena also landed an at-large berth as did Tamalpais, Berean Christian, Maria Carrillo and Montgomery.
Kelseyville will be joined at the sectionals by Middletown golfers Doug Quinones and Blaine Ruggio and Rincon Valley”s Ty Cazet.
Ruggio, who is just a freshman, and Cazet qualified based on their 36-hole totals during the final two CMC South matches at Windsor and Oakmont. Quinones earned an automatic entry because he led the CMC South in scoring during the eight-match regular season.
At the sectionals, the Knights will have to finish in the top 10 to earn a spot in the Tournament of Champions the following week at Franklin Canyon in Rodeo. The top 10 teams and the low 12 scorers who are not members of the top 10 teams move on to the TOC.
“It will be hard for Kelseyville to crack the top 10,” Berry said. “We”d have to shoot under 410 (combined score for five team members) and that”s an 82 average.”
But Berry said he likes the chances for a handful of CMC South golfers, namely Quinones and three of his own players — Nick Schaefer, Jonathan Bridges and Hipolito Perez ? to qualify for TOC as individuals.
The Kelseyville team will practice at Rooster Run today in preparation for Monday”s sectional tournament.
Berry said Wednesday”s trip to Santa Rosa marked the first time he”s applied for an at-large berth in nearly 30 years of coaching at Kelseyville.
“We”ve either won (the conference title) or were rebuilding, so I had never been to one,” he said.
