Jun. 8—This is getting to be a familiar drill for Iris Han.
The Stockdale junior continued her run of postseason dominance on Monday, winning the Central Section Championship for the second year in a row, shooting a score of 74, then surviving two competitors in a two-hole playoff in tournament play at the Madera Country Club.
Han was tied with Avery Foster of Clovis and Claire Alford of Righetti after 18 holes. After Alford bowed out of the first playoff, Han answered a Foster bogey with a par on the second to clinch the win.
“It’s just amazing,” Mustang coach Nick Kaiser said. “She’s just a solid, solid young lady. This is my 25th year as a coach and she’s one of a kind, man.”
Fresh off her win at the Area Tournament, Han shot 37 on both the front and back nines Monday.She earned the win despite shooting three shots off her winning pace at the 2019 Central Section Tournament.
She’ll now move onto the Central Region Tournament to be played at the Brookside Country Club in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 15. She placed 30th with a score of 80 at the tournament during his sophomore season.
“That’s a whole different ball game down there,” Kaiser said. “I know she went down there last year and was a little bit overwhelmed but came out feeling at least like she belonged. So with a little more confidence that she’s gotten … I feel like she’s got a lot more confidence going into this year from last year.”
Taft’s Macayla Wells, who finished one shot behind Han at Areas, was the second-best individual finisher at Section, shooting an 81 to finish eighth and also secure a spot in regionals.
Other local finishes were Jaidyn Eldridge of Centennial (87), Kendall Chao of Bakersfield Christian (90), Katelyn Debuskey of Liberty (93), Kali (97) and Meah (103) Figueroa of Bakersfield High and Trenadee Price of Taft (107).
On the team end, Clovis West won comfortably with a score of 426, 29 strokes better than runner-up Buchanan.
Just missing a regional qualifying spot, Frontier came in third with a score of 458 behind McKenzie Dalrymple’s team-best 84. Maci Mills (86), Faith Hamstreet (88), Allison Bailey (99) and Kendall Blunt (101) also scored for the Titans.
Garces Memorial had a rough day coming in last in the eight-team field with a score of 528. The Rams did get a solid round out of Julianna Escobedo, though, as she shot an 85.