I was out in Taft (near Taft, really) today for the section's South Area girls golf tournament, so I thought it'd be a good time to check in on our non-football sports, two of which are already into postseason and two more that are rapidly approaching that point.

Girls golf
Frontier stole the show Monday at Buena Vista, with five players among the 15 who get to advance to the individual section championships and a team title with a great score of 395. It's the first time the Titans have broken 400 in their school's history, and it's the first time in a number of years any Kern County has done it. Leading the charge was junior Jordanne Barr, who shot a 1-over-par 73. Frontier is certainly deep enough to win the Division II section title for a second straight year and has a great shot at being one of two Central Section teams through to the Southern Cal regional for a second straight year. As for being the overall top dog? It'll come down to the Titans and Clovis West, the defending Division I champ. Stockdale and Garces will be this area's D-I representatives, but neither has the guns to compete with CW or Frontier, it doesn't look like. The team championships are next Monday in Tulare. The individual titles are in two Mondays at Rio Bravo Country Club, where the Frontier five plus other standouts like Stockdale's Abby Marina, Garces' Jasmine Rodriguez, Ridgeview's Karly Lux, East's Micah Lopez and Bakersfield Christian's Megan Cho will compete.

Girls tennis
League championships last week brought us singles champions Danisa Hromadkova of Frontier, Gracie Jacobs of Garces and a co-championship of Lyndsay and Chelby Cooke of Bakersfield Christian, who for the second straight year didn't play their sisterly finals match, hoping for a later meeting in the section tournament. They just might get it, with Gabrielle Gatewood of Visalia-Redwood likely seeded No. 1 and Lyndsay Cooke No. 2 (they've met in the finals in the past two seasons), Chelby might get the No. 3 seed (it's probably between her and Jacobs). Seeding comes out tomorrow, and if that's the way it is, the potential semifinal match would take place in two Saturdays in Visalia. The individual tournament has its preliminary rounds this Saturday.
If the Cooke sisters do meet, it'll be about the only drama around BCHS' program this fall. The Eagles are the section's best team at any level, and so they will waltz through the Division V team bracket with their eyes closed, starting with a semifinal Thursday. The real team drama could come in Divisions I and II. Stockdale has improved throughout the year, but the young Mustangs will do very well if they come close to winning their seventh straight D-I title. Stockdale is the No. 4 seed and plays No. 5 Liberty in Thursday's quarterfinals. Get past that, and they'll likely have No. 1 Clovis-Buchanan in the semifinals next Tuesday. In Division II, Garces is No. 2 but much improved from last year, when it lost 7-2 to Redwood in the championship. Garces returns its entire lineup plus adds Jacobs and another talented freshman to help the cause. First, the Rams would have to get past No. 3 Frontier in a semifinal.

Cross country
The Ridgeview-McFarland battle will culminate Saturday in the Kern County Championships at Hart Park. Ridgeview won at the Cougars' home invite; McFarland won at the Wolf Pack's meet. Robbie Baker and Alex Garcia for Ridgeview and a host of Cougars led by Eddie Garcia and Francisco Nava will compete for individual honors. Also keep an eye on Highland and East teams as we head into the section and state meets later in November.
As for the girls, Stockdale threw a wrench into things by beating Ridgeview in a tri-meet a couple of weeks ago. Tijerra Lynch is far and away the individual favorite for the Wolf Pack, but Stockdale's depth ran down Ridgeview later in the race to tie them and win on a sixth runner. Ridgeview gets two chances at revenge, first Saturday at the Kern County meet and then Nov. 5 at the SEYL-SWYL league meets, also at Hart Park, where a first-place finish will at least win a co-league title for Ridgeview. The other thing to keep an eye on for Saturday will be the individual battle between Lynch and Bakersfield's Sarah Baker, who haven't met yet this year. There are other competitors, but those seem like consistently the top two dogs this year.

Volleyball
There are still two weeks left in the regular season here, but already the hierarchy among Kern County teams seems to be established: It's Centennial, closely followed by Bakersfield, then Liberty in Division I and then D-II rivals Garces and Frontier. Stockdale follows, along with Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian in the SSL. BCHS lost its first SSL league match ever a couple of weeks ago in five games to Tehachapi at home; the Eagles return the trip up the mountain next week. Liberty also travels to Bakersfield in an interesting return trip. Garces and Frontier should be the top two seeds when the D-II bracket comes out a week from Saturday, and Centennial hopes for at least a No. 3 seed in Division I, and possibly a No. 2 ahead of North Area powers Clovis-Buchanan and Clovis West.