Badminton and Golf Recap
May 22, 2013
The Diamond Bar badminton team had another incredible year, as the elite squad of young, talented players defended their CIF title, becoming the Hacienda League champion for the second straight season.
“Considering how we are the two time undefeated league champions, I would say we had a good year,” coach Kemp Wells said.
The Brahmas swept past every team they played this year, going undefeated in every match. They breezed through the regular season with an amazing 9-0 record; three were perfect games with a 21-0 score against Azusa once and Baldwin Park twice. And yet the red-hot Brahmas did not stop there.
After pulverizing their competition in the regular season, the Brahmas headed into the league finals, looking to win CIF once again. Everything seemed to be going in their favor as they advanced past the first two rounds with a perfect score of 21-0 in each game.
The championship game was the real challenge for the Brahmas, as they were trailing in the match for the first time in their season. However, with the title on the line, the team rallied back with the strong plays of senior co-captain Samantha Li and freshmen Krista Hsu. Still, the Brahmas could not have gotten as far as they did without the leadership of their senior co-captains Li, Carissa Chung, and Ryan Huang.
The Brahmas finished their season with an extraordinary 12-0 undefeated record for the second consecutive season. This milestone will add on to DB¡¯s history of being one of the strongest badminton schools in the area.
The Diamond Bar golf team did not disappoint this season, as the team won its second consecutive CIF Southern Section Western Divisional Regional Championship on May 6 at the Sierra La Verne Country Club despite poor weather conditions.
The Brahmas destroyed powerhouse schools such as Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, and Servite by 15 strokes. ¡°If you pretend this was basketball, we would of had beaten them by 40 points or more,¡± coach Ty Watkins said. Sophomore Jefferson Kao led the way with a score of 69 and became a low medalist. Since the team is stacked with such talent, junior Dean Sakata and senior and future Princeton University golfer Jason Chen shot a 72 and 71 respectively.
The CIF Southern California Golf Association Regionals on the other hand went a bit differently for the Brahmas. DB missed the cut by four strokes and was unable to reach the Southern California team regionals on May 30. However, there was still a highlight in the day as sophomore Sahith Theegala shot a 68 and became the low medalist.
However, this missed opportunity does not define how great the season was for the Brahmas. The team consisted of six members who became First Team All-Hacienda League with senior Chris Nijthaworn winning the League Individual tournament. Many teams go into a rebuilding stage after a great year. However, the Brahmas look forward to winning CIF again.