Columnist Adam Candee: Green Valley winning streak: A generation of greatness

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

In terms of Las Vegas sports history, it is not discussed with the iconic reverence reserved for people such as Greg Maddux and teams such as the 1989 UNLV Rebels basketball team. Hey, it's not exactly the same competitive stage. We understand.

But the dual-match winning streak of the Green Valley High School girls' golf team, which finally met its end Tuesday against Palo Verde, of 144 consecutive victories over a period of 12 years certainly deserves a spot on the city's bookshelf of great sports accomplishments. It is a national record at the high school level, smashing the old mark of 128 set by Xavier Prep in Phoenix.

Coach Del Sagers, now four coaches removed from current first-year man Gerald Bustamante, and his girls had little idea what they were starting when they rebounded from a tough loss to Chaparral in 1992 to post an 8-1 record. Since then, no team matched individually against Green Valley -- postseason and tournament play does not count -- has scored a victory.

Plenty of prep teams in Nevada annals enjoyed runs of dominance, but none has the tangible proof of how good it was that a generation of Green Valley girls' golfers can claim. The Gators certainly had good fortune to avoid some tough Cimarron-Memorial and Durango teams in the middle of the run, but they still deserve plenty of credit for beating every team placed in front of them.

And if the streak had to eventually end -- obviously, it did -- then at least it is a group that is nearly impossible to blame which ended it. These girls are babies; most of them were barely potty trained when the first group of Gators began the run. They graduated five players last year, have a new coach.

Where the Gators' groups in the mid-to-late 1990s felt a responsibility to the streak, as did the 2002 team headlined by Chelsea Pendleton and Nicole McGirr that broke the record, these young ladies know of it only as a tale of days gone by from grandma's kitchen.

Now, that's where the record will stay, safely tucked away. And because prep sports do not hold the public's attention for long around here, we'll grab an appropriate quick moment to give due praise to the 12 years of Green Valley players and coaches.

The juniors will be paired with Champions Tour players in a gross best ball format, and they will play one day at Pebble Beach and one day at Bayonet. The low 22 teams will advance to Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach, as will the low 10 amateur teams.

The Golf Channel will televise Friday and Saturday's rounds, and NBC picks up coverage of Sunday's action.

Mack and Scott earned their spots in the event during a two-day selection process held in Kansas through The First Tee, an organization designed to introduce kids of all backgrounds to golf.

The men open their season Sept. 26 at one of the year's most important tournaments. The Preview, this year in Baltimore, Md., gives the nation's best teams a chance to play the course where the national championship will be held at season's end

Meanwhile, Missy Ringler's ladies have a schedule twist of their own: The Rebels will host a pair of tournaments in town this year. UNLV hosts the Las Vegas Founders' Collegiate Showdown in early November and also welcomes teams to the Valley in the UNLV Spring Invitational in mid-March.