Shades of de ja vu

Mike Sciacca

Frank Ruotolo said it will take him a couple of weeks to get a better

handle on his 2003 girls’ golf team at Marina High but already, the

head coach of the Vikings sees similarities to one of his most

successful squads.

“This year’s group of players is quite similar to the 2001 team,”

he said Monday, after Marina upped its season record to 2-0 following

a 218-241 win over visiting Rosary. “That team was a very good team

and this team has plenty of potential.

“We’ll just have to wait and see where the girls go with the

season.”

Two years ago, Marina won the CIF division title but finished in

sixth-place at the CIF-Southern Section Team finals.

Not a bad group to try to emulate, nor even last year’s squad,

which went 17-1, tied for the Sunset League title and finished sixth

in CIF competition.

Needless to say, expectations are high for the 2003 Vikings.

“Even though we play as a team, golf is such an individual sport,”

said Ruotolo, who, after the Rosary match, stressed to his players

the importance of playing as a unit.

“You have to mesh together different personalities to form some

type of unity on a team and I think our girls get along really well.

That’s important to a team’s overall success.”

What’s also of utmost importance is a team’s talent level and

Marina has that in various players.

With a solid one-two punch returning and several talented players

looking to make key contributions, the Vikings come into the season

tabbed by some “experts” as the county’s top team.

“It’s nice to hear that, but we really don’t try to focus on it,”

Ruotolo said. “There are many highs and lows in the game of golf and

a huge factor in how well a team does during the season is that it

has been able to develop some level of consistency, from top to

bottom.

“Another key is for each player to find her own game. I think

we’ll be in the hunt come time for CIF. It’s just a matter if our

players are playing above average, or, just average. You want to be

playing your best at season’s end.”

The Vikings lineup from 2002 returns intact for the 2003 season

and is led by defending CIF-Women’s Southern California Golf Assn.

champion Jennifer Osborn and two-time CIF-Southern Section finalist

Jane Chin.

Osborn, a junior, and Chin, a senior, are two of the county’s --

and CIF’s -- best.

“I think that on any given day, I feel that Jennifer and Jane are

two of the top players around -- especially when they are playing

their ‘A’ game,” Ruotolo said.

But crucial to Marina’s success, he said, is the development of

the rest of Marina’s lineup.

He’s looking for big contributions from seniors Michelle Hampton,

Elizabeth Cruz and Stephanie Rinker -- three golfers who last year

played their first season at the varsity level, and sophomores Connie

Chai and Cynthia Pham.

“I think this team can average 210 or 211 a match,” Ruotolo said.

“I would like to see us shoot, on average, 90 or 91 on 18 holes and

43 to 45 on nine holes.