Not much rivalry for Estancia

COSTA MESA — Every time Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools compete against one another in an athletic event it can be considered a rivalry.

But on the totem pole of intensity that each sport inspires in its competitors, this year girls’ golf is at or near the bottom.

Estancia is coming off a Golden West League title, oozing with experience. The Eagles also have the defending league champion in Bridget Gleason. Costa Mesa on the other hand is just the opposite, in that the Mustangs are young and inexperienced. Of the nine players on Costa Mesa only two are seniors.

But it is still Estancia and Costa Mesa and so the Eagles did not get caught looking past their crosstown rival to an Orange Coast League showdown with Laguna Beach Thursday. So with Gleason leading the way, they defeated the Mustangs, 210-313, in a league match Tuesday at Mesa Linda Golf Course, par 35.

In his second year as coach of Costa Mesa, Tom Baldwin knows the state of the rivalry.

“A rivalry is where both teams have a chance to win,” said Baldwin, whose team dropped to 1-4, 1-2 in league. “I don’t consider it a rivalry when one team is vastly superior to the other.”

Estancia Coach Art Perry, whose team is now 6-0, 3-0, had his own name for it.

“It’s a friendly rivalry,” said Perry, who is in his eighth year. “We know Costa Mesa has a good group of girls. They’re young. Most of our girls have four years of experience. We have five seniors on our team.”

Without the drama of a league title at stake, the players and even the coaches turn to friendlier aspects of the rivalry.

The two are familiar with each other from coaching boys’ teams. Baldwin has coached the Costa Mesa boys for 10 years, while Perry has led Estancia for seven. But the two go back before then, when they were coaching against each other in football 25 years ago for their respective schools.

“We’re good friends,” Baldwin said. “We love to play Estancia. We have a great relationship.”

Perry said he was happy to see Baldwin take over the girls’ program two years ago. The two played the course with the final group Tuesday.

“We’re always happy to play each other,” Perry said.

Gleason, a senior, led a barrage of low scores for the Eagles with an even-par 35. Freshman Kim Haycraft (43), junior Taylor West (43), senior Caroline Clements (43) and senior Lina You (46) also scored for the Eagles.

Gleason said she was friends with some of the Costa Mesa players from last year, but the Mustangs had seven returning seniors who chose not to play for unspecified reasons. Gleason said it was still easy to motivate herself to play Costa Mesa.

“We always like playing Mesa,” said Gleason, who added the biggest match for Estancia is Laguna Beach. “What Estancia team doesn’t?”

Costa Mesa seniors Maggie Moss and Julia Jarolawski each have their own friendly connections to Estancia. Moss knows Clements because she works with Moss’ sister at the Newport Rib Co. Jarolawski knows West from their days playing AYSO soccer together and hitting at the same driving range.

“It’s fun,” Moss said. “It’s good for a few chuckles. We had our inside jokes.”

Jarolawski added: “It was more fun probably because we knew each other. We joked about each other’s swings.”

Baldwin said his team puts too much pressure on itself because of its crosstown rival’s stature.

“Estancia is really, really good and it intimidated [the Mustangs] a little bit,” Baldwin said. “It made [the Mustangs] try harder to make shots.”

But the day was dominated by Gleason. The senior was not dominating in the birdie category, sinking only one, but it was her short game which won her medalist honors for the third time this year.

“You’ve gotta know how to putt,” Gleason said. “It takes practice and how you practice. You have to get confident with your swing. It’s very rhythmic. You have to have confidence the ball is going to go in every time.”

Both teams tee off again Thursday. Costa Mesa plays Ocean View at Riverview Golf Course at 2:30 p.m. and Estancia faces Laguna Beach at Mesa Linda Golf Course at 3 p.m.