MCC golf off to spectacular start

Kevin Bonneville

MCC men and women’s golf seasons are in full swing with expectations as high as ever due to high preseason rankings.The Lady Thunderbirds were ranked fifth nationally, with the men’s team also receiving high praise going into the year.

The women’s squad is anchored this season by three sophomores and lone freshman, Kim Fortuna.

“She’s been a surprise as far as her work ethic. She doesn’t want to let the team down,” said head coach John Guerrero.

Unlike past years, the men’s team is freshman led.

Five of the six top players are freshmen, which Guererro contributes to having a fantastic recruiting class.

“It’s one of the best ones I’ve ever had,” said Guerrero, now in his eighth year coaching the women’s team and his fourth coaching men.

The women’s team opened up the year by placing third as a team at the Paradise Valley CC invite at Cave Creek Golf Course.

Fresno State-bound and 2007 Conference
Player of the Year, Lindi Covarrubias, took home the first place trophy, while sophomore Jennifer Lutz placed third overall.

The men opened up their respective campaign by taking fifth out of 12 teams at the Cactus Thaw at Western New Mexico University.

Freshmen Andrew Augustyniak led the way shooting six over par and was tied for seventh overall individually during the two-day event.

Fellow freshmen Brent Hobbs and Jake Golembiewski had good showings also, placing 12th and 33rd in the tournament.

Covarrubias was once again the star on the women’s side of the tournament placing third overall.

She shot 16 over par to lead her team to take second place out of four teams.

Brie Gregg shot 21 over par to take fifth place and Lutz shot 24 over par to tie for eighth.

At the Pima CC Tournament, the women’s team took home first place trophy defeating the home team by two strokes.

The men followed close behind taking third in the tourney.

“As of right now, we haven’t lived up to our potential. We are getting better as the season goes on though,” said Lutz.

“We’ve got both individuals and team goals, ” said Guerrero, “Our ultimate goal is to reach all of them by the end of the year.”

“We are having a good year so far,” sophomore Austin Stone said. “We are going to try our best to get to nationals.”

The Mesa women will host a tournament on March 11, 12. It will be held at Dobson Ranch Golf Course and is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

Welcome to the Mesa Legend! Subscribe to know more about what goes on at Mesa Community College!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *