San Pedro Girls Have High Hopes

The San Pedro girls’ cross-country team will enter the state championships today at Woodward Park in Fresno as the three-time defending City Section champion, but the Pirates will be looking for their first top-10 finish in the Division I race.

San Pedro finished 23rd and 16th in the previous two state meets, but Coach Bruce Thomson figures a top-10 finish today could lay the groundwork for a top-five performance next year.

No girls’ team from the City has placed among the top five finishers since the state meet began in 1987, but Thomson said he thinks San Pedro could next year because the Pirates have four sophomores and a freshman among their top five runners. In addition, junior Jackie Conlin should be a member of the team next year after sitting out this season because of tendinitis in her knees.

“It’s something we have to build up to,” Thomson said of a top-five finish. “But I think it can be done.”

John Ortega

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Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach defeated Taylor Leon of Texas, 4 and 3, in the semifinals of the American Junior Golf Assn. Polo Junior Championships at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and advanced to today’s final against In-Bee Park of Florida.

Lee, a junior at Edison High, won four of the last seven holes. Earlier in the quarterfinals, Lee needed 20 holes to defeat Angela Park, a Torrance High sophomore who last week won the Southern Section individual championship.

In-Bee Park, Lee’s opponent in the final, was the 2002 U.S. Girls Junior champion and runner-up this year.

Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana of Long Beach has been awarded the American Junior Golf Assn. Jerry Cole Sportsmanship award.

Tangtiphaiboontana, 18, a Long Beach Wilson graduate and now a freshman at Stanford, was recognized as the AJGA member who demonstrated exemplary sportsmanship both on and off the course.

-- Peter Yoon