Yosemite golfers are CIF Central Section Champs

The last team sport standing brings home title

By Mike Hackworth

(Updated: Friday, May 16, 2008, 3:36 PM)

The Yosemite High School boys golfers did what no other athletic team at the school could do this school year. They brought home a CIF title Tuesday. The team shot a 409 to defeat Bakersfield Christian, which shot a combined 418. Central Valley Christian finished a distant third with a 433 at Valley Oaks Golf Course in Visalia.

"The boys did an outstanding job yesterday," head coach Rusty Oetinger said. "Jed (Noonkester) and I talked about this being his last high school golf tournament, so I told him to enjoy it and have fun and not worry about how things went."

Coach and student have been together since Noonkester was a freshman and Oetinger was in his first year as the Yosemite varsity coach.

"We have come such a long way together so I admit that I did get choked up yesterday during my pre-tournament speech and thinking about how it was going to be the last tournament we were going to be at together," Oetinger said.

The net result of that four years of labor culminated in the golf team's first ever CIF Central Section championship.

"I was really proud of Jed yesterday," Oetinger said. "He started off a little shaky by bogeying the first four holes, but then made 14 pars in a row to finish with a 77.

"I told my dad that I wasn't going to bogey another hole after number eight," Noonkester said. "I did have one on the back nine at the Lakes Course, but I played more confidently too."

Junior Albert Ayala and sophomore Jamison Schwab both shot 79s.

"Jamison is an outstanding sophomore who can hit the ball a country mile," Oetinger said. "He is only going to get better and better.

"As for Albert (Ayala), he is a welcome new addition to the team. Down the stretch, he has been our most consistent player, next to Jed."

The six-man team rounded out with sophomore Joe Criswell shooting an 85 and senior Ethan Degraaff shooting 89, both solid rounds, and sophomore Tyler LeQuia shot a 95. The five highest scores for each six-man team are counted.

"Tyler has been a very important member of our team this season," Oetinger said. "Twice he has saved us by picking up a couple of the other players who didn't play well.

"The real exciting thing to me is that we are beginning to develop a tradition of excellence for both the boys and girls golf teams."

With the victory, the boys golf team has now won three league championships, two area championships and one CIF Championship in Oetinger's tenure as head coach.