Six days after capturing individual and team titles at the CIF SoCal Regional Girls High School Championship, Santa Margarita H.S. swept the state competition at San Gabriel CC on Wednesday. Angela Liu won the individual state title after a back-nine surge, while collaborating with her teammates to win the team title by five strokes.
“It is the most successful, magical season I could’ve imagined,” Santa Margarita Head Coach Jill Hegna said. “It’s pretty special for me personally because I’ve been coaching a long time. It goes to show that you don’t give up and if you stick with it, positive things will happen. I’m really proud of this team. They’re all so talented.”
The Eagles have completed its best year in program history while Liu etches her name in California history with the likes of Lizette Salas and Andrea Lee. The UCLA commit shot five-under 67 to snag the state title as a junior.
“It feels pretty good, especially for California,” Liu said. “It’s a tough state so I’m feeling pretty good.”
Liu notched a pair of birdies on the front nine, then took a hold of the leaderboard on the back. After rolling her third birdie on No. 12, she smoked a 250-yard drive right down the middle to start No. 13. Her second shot, 200 yards away from the pin, landed about 15 feet short of the hole on a slightly uphill lie.
Liu sent her ensuing chip straight at the flag and dunked it in for an eagle, which gave her the solo lead at five-under.
“I think my driving was really good and then the chip I made for eagle,” Liu said. “Everything was working really good.”
Liu added another birdie on No. 15. Despite a bogey on her final hole, she was able to secure the victory by three strokes.
“It’s been [a] very fun [year] with my team, we’ve made a lot of memories,” Liu said.
Michelle Woo (Arcadia) finished runner up at two-under 70, while Erica Lee (Arcadia), Yurang Li (Sunny Hills) and Kelsey Kim (Sunny Hills) all shot even-par to round out the top five. Arcadia H.S. finished runner-up in the team competition.
