The MVHS girls golf team swung back into action this year, winning the 2024 SCVAL El Camino league title as well as promotion to the higher De Anza division. It was a huge improvement from 2023, when they received one of the lowest rankings in recent years.
With many new freshmen increasing the size of the team, players spent a lot more time working with each other and creating a stronger team bond, sophomore Jannat Bhatia said.
“It was great being a mentor to the freshman,” Bhatia said.
The team started the season with a scrimmage against Cupertino, another contender to win the league, where the Spartans narrowly lost by ten strokes. Despite playing on an unfamiliar course, the team did not make excuses for their loss and knew work had to be done, co-captain Saahiti Bondalapati said
“Coming into the season, we knew we had to improve to beat Cupertino,” co-captain Keya Bansal said.
The team started to take note of key mistakes and made changes to practices and how they approached the game. Bondalapati said the team spent more time focusing on the rules of the sport and coach Tracy Cone also started to make practices more personalized to each player on the team.
“[Cone] would let you personalize and help you with what you’re lacking,” Bansal said.
However, the team acknowledged the challenges they faced throughout the season, especially mental ones, despite their improvements in teamwork and practice.
“One of the challenges with golf is keeping up with your mental attitude, ” Bondalapati said.
Knowing this, the team went into the season using their new strategies and working together to win matches.
“Before every match, we try to set a goal and those help motivate us throughout the match,” Bondalapati said.
One of the goals was set by Bhatia, who emphasized that scoring under 40 par over nine holes consistently was important to her. With this mindset in the team, the Spartans continued to win meets against league opponents, eventually leading them to the top of the leaderboard.
“Mountain View hasn’t gotten first in a long time, and it felt really, really good, ” Bhatia said.
The team continued their journey at leagues, where they tried to qualify for CCS. Bhatia, who has been playing golf competitively since she was five, was the only player to qualify. After making the cut to CCS by three shots, Bhatia tied for 8th place at CCS.
“[Bhatia] is one of the best in our league, and she really puts in the effort, and we really appreciate her, and we love to have her on the team,” Bansal said.
Building on their achievements this year, the team aims to replicate and exceed that success next season, athletes said
“Our goal is to have a safe environment, be really good and to be cohesive together, decreasing our scores as we go and just having fun,” Bansal said.
