MCP Men's Golf Team Finishes 2nd in Division II CIF Championship

On the biggest stage of the year, MCP’s Men’s Golf team came through with an all-out team effort to grab 2nd place at the CIF Central Section Division 2 Golf Championship at Valley Oaks Golf Course in Visalia on May 9th. The Royals came into the championship as the 5th place finisher in the Mountain League and had to overcome local favorites Sierra Pacific, Immanuel, and Lemoore. At the end of the day MCP would outlast all but Mountain League's Santa Ynez who would finish on top as D2 champions - by a slim 5-stroke margin.
MCP got off to a strong start with Luke Montoya quickly getting to 3-under par and Landon Smith and Augustin Nguyen playing steady even par golf. At one point on the back nine, the Royals were tied for first place. Jake Long, AJ Jespen, and Ben Gingerich each played fantastic and their efforts helped keep the team in contention. But when the final scores came in, it took Santa Ynez's number 5 player shooting a remarkable 75 to earn team victory for the Pirates. When the team scores were tallied up after all players were finished Mission Prep's score of 400 was enough for a 2nd place tie with Lemoore. However, the tie breaker for team runner-up goes to each team's number 6 player. For the Royals that was Gingerich. His 95 beat Lemoore's 101 - giving MCP 2nd place.
It was a fantastic finish for these Royals who peaked at the right time.
Luke Montoya also finished runner-up in the individual competition with score of 2-under par 70. Zack Tarter of Sierra Pacific earned medalist honors with 4-under par 68.
Three Royals, Montoya (2nd), Smith (23rd), and Nguyen (25th) finished in the Top 25 of the combined Area, D3, and D2 tournaments and qualified for the next round of CIF playoffs - CIF CS Section Championship to be played next week at San Joaquin Country Club.