The CSU East Bay women’s and men’s golf team are in the midst of the 2011 campaign, with the lady’s team already showing signs of success.
The lady Pioneers traveled to Sonoma this week to compete in the Sonoma State Invitational where they took third place, beating out conference competition.
CSU East Bay edged out the home team Sonoma State, as well as Monterey Bay and Chico State while Western Washington University took first place and British Columbia second.
The invitational marks the second consecutive top-five finish to open the fall season for the Pioneers.
On Oct. 10 and 11, the Pioneers traveled to Bellingham Washington to compete in the Western Washington Invitational where they finished in fourth place, finishing ahead of seven teams with a dominant performance by sophomore Deanna Tyndall to open their season.
Tyndall carded an even-par 72 in the final round of the event to finish in a tie for first place in the individual performances, marking her best showing as a Pioneer thus far.
“I’m very excited at the success that we’ve had so far in the season,” said head coach Allen Sue.
“Our top three players, Deanna Tyndell, Andrea Castallenos and Linda Brown have really stepped up their game and led the way and I am proud of the way they are playing. Adding Linda Brown to the team has provided an impact and has made us competitors,” continued Sue.
Sophomore Andrea Castallenos helped carry the Pioneers to their third place performance at Sonoma as she too had a career best performance, finishing with a 152 (+6) and fourth overall amongst individual competitors.
“Castallenos is a player that I look for to be a leader of this team,” said Sue. “She actually took some time away from golf before joining the team last year but the hard work that she has put in has paid off and I look for her to be a top player in the conference and the region.”
Along with Castallenos, the Pioneers had three top half individual performances in Sonoma with a 43-player field, including Tyndall and freshman Brown.
The men’s team hasn’t had equal success as they traveled to Phoenix, Arizona earlier this month to compete in the Grand Canyon Fall Invitational, where they finished with a 15th place showing amongst 16 universities.
The Pioneers have shown significant improvement however as last week, they placed seventh out of 16 universities at the Lindsay Olive Wildcat Classic at Corning California.
Newcomer and junior, Chris Herzog propelled the Pioneers finishing in a tie for 13th place among individual competitors with a 226 (+10) score.
“The men didn’t get off to such a hot start but have come around nicely in the last invitational,” said Sue.
For the third straight year, the coaching duo Sue and assistant coach Mario Castallenos lead both the men’s and women’s teams.
This season marks the seventh year at the helm for Sue who has a Cal Pac Conference Coach of the Year honor for the 2007 and 2008 golf seasons as well as led the Pioneers men’s team to their first Cal Pac Conference championship that same year and a second place in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Golf Regionals.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Hawaii for the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate on Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 to round out the fall season of golf.