With a mid-season record of 6-1, Claremont High girls golf has become the team to beat. That is no small accomplishment, since they are part of a very competitive league and, only a few years ago, struggled to win at all.

Leading the charge this year, senior Allison Gallegos racked up one solid performance after another including shooting a 34—two under par—during the Pack’s opener against Ayala last month. She had four birdies on the round, so even with a double bogey all she had to do was hit par on the final holes to get two under.

“I was hitting the green, hitting the fairway all day,” Gallegos said.“It just worked out right.”

But one strong player cannot carry the whole team, and Claremont is lucky to have a solid roster. On Wednesday, Claremont narrowly lost to visiting Glendora 207 to 213 with junior Juliana Gomez shooting the Pack’s low score of 40, followed by Gallegos at 41 and Maryn Santiago at 43.

Glendora’s Jadan Gonzalez shot an amazing 35, one under par, for the low score of the match.

On Tuesday, Claremont defeated the same Glendora team, 217 to 221, at the Glendora Country Club, with Sally Wang shooting a solid 40 followed by Gallegos at 41.

Coach Octavio Hernandez credits his team’s stellar performance to good old fashioned hard work, particularly from the players who competed in tournaments during the off season, including the SCPGA and the Toyota Cup.

He has nine players on varsity and rotates them in for the six pairs that compete in each match. That way, no individual girl becomes overwhelmed by schoolwork for their tough academic classes.

Gallegos went to Southern Individual Regional CIF last year, which was a first for the Pack. The entire team went to Central Team Divisional CIF last year as well.

“Gallegos is very athletic and a hard worker. As a freshman, she was ranked number nine, but took 10 strokes off [her average score] by the time she was a sophomore and five more the next year. Now she is number one,” said Coach Hernandez.

The golf team must complete its entire season before daylight savings time ends on November 6. As a result, they will have steady matches all the way to the Palomares League prelims on October 18 with the finals just a day later.

Claremont faces Chino Hills twice next week, once at home on Tuesday and again in an away match on Friday.

GIRLS TENNIS

Girls varsity tennis won their league opener 12-6 against South Hills on Tuesday and will continue with an away league match against Bonita on Thursday. They had a non-league match Wednesday against Alta Loma.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

The varsity volleyball team defeated South Hills, 3-0, on Tuesday in Covina. Claremont dominated the entire match, winning each set 25-20, 25-23 and 25-10. The team, which now has a record of 7-3, will compete in a tournament this weekend.

FOOTBALL

Claremont High School got their first win of the year, defeating Pomona High School, 40-12, on Friday at Pomona. The team did not provide any detailed stats but are now 1-3. The Pack will take on Alta Loma, also 1-3, at home on Friday.

CROSS-COUNTRY

Varsity cross country travels to Minnesota this week for the Roy Griak Invitational while the JV squad will be at the Dana Hills invite.

Last week at Woodbridge tournament,  CHS JV girls won a varsity race and the JV boys were third in a varsity race.

WEBB FOOTBALL

Garey High School defeated The Webb Schools 42-14 on Friday in Pomona. Webb’s Ryan Place rushed for 73 yards and threw touchdown passes to Apollo Thomas and Nick Jung. Garey’s Salvador Tapia rushed for a game high 156 yards.

Webb, 1-3, hosts Upland Christian at Faculty Field on Friday.

WEBB WATER POLO

San Marino narrowly defeated the Webb boys water polo team, 12-11. Webb staged a second half rally and Mitchell Fargo’s last second shot sailed over the cage. Fargo scored seven goals for Webb, Will Donahue had three goals and Max Sapozkhov made 7 saves.

Webb, 4-11, plays at Bonita on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com