PREP GOLF: WESTLAKE SHARP HEADING TO SECTION.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

And then there was one.

Eight days after 12-time-champion Hart High of Newhall was toppled in the Foothill League, Marmonte League-power Westlake survived as the area's last remaining decade-long boys' golf champion.

Rather than celebrating, Westlake coach Dave Costley is hoping his Warriors' battle through four rounds of the Marmonte tournament has left them sufficiently steeled for postseason play that starts today.

Westlake, which has won 11 consecutive Marmonte titles, 16 of the past 18 and 17 of 22 since joining the league in 1981, trailed Thousand Oaks after each of the first two rounds of this year's 72-hole league tournament and wound up outlasting the runner-up Lancers by just four strokes after Thursday's final round.

``This one was really shaky,'' said Costley, who thinks the league struggle should help when Westlake begins Southern Section play today in the Central Coast Regional at Cypress Ridge GC in Arroyo Grande.

If depth turns out to be a factor, the Warriors could be in good shape.

Costley used eight golfers for at least one round in the play-six-to-score-five Marmonte tournament and every one of them averaged in the 70s. League runner-up Darren Schwartz led the Warriors at 73.0, followed by Jason Wilk (75.0), Jeff Ditullio (77.0), David Naish (73.0), Taylor Neal (73.7), Brian Van Heel (74.0), Nick Zell (78.7) and Brett Perry (79.5).

``If the kids can play like that (today), our chances are good,'' Costley said of his team's bid to win one of the two Southern Section-championship berths available at Cypress Ridge.

Westlake has proven it can shoot low this season, dipping below 370 three times - something Costley thinks the Warriors might have to do again today to qualify for Thursday's section championship at La Purisima GC in Lompoc.

``San Marcos (of Santa Barbara, the defending section and CIF/SCGA champion) is the team to beat,'' Costley said. ``You almost can concede it to them unless they mess up.''

Eight-time section-champion and three-time CIF/SCGA-champion San Marcos demonstrated that emphatically in winning the Channel League championship at par-72 Soule Park GC in Ojai, where six different players shot 69 or better during a two-day competition in which the Royals got to 19-under-par 341 in the final round.

Westlake, a two-time CIF/SCGA champion that has yet to win a Southern Section title, might wind up battling Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and defending regional champion Atascadero for the final section championship berth.

Thousand Oaks is led by Marmonte League individual champion Kyle Thurston, only the third non-Westlake player to win league since 1985. Three-time Pacific View League-champion Camarillo has the area's most consistent 1-2 players in two-time state amateur qualifier Kyle Dowden and Colin Wilcox, who qualified for CIF/CSGA last year as a freshman.

Eight area teams, including Alpha League-champion L.A. Baptist of North Hills, will play in the Cypress Ridge regional. Twenty-three area teams qualified for today's postseason openers, 13 of them headed for the Northern regional at Soule Park.

Valencia (Foothill), Highland of Palmdale (Golden), Loyola of Los Angeles (Mission) and Calabasas (Frontier) are the area league champions playing at Soule. Prep League co-champion Flintridge Prep of La Canada Flintridge plays in a regional at Oak Valley GC in Beaumont.

Hart senior Brian Edick, the Daily News Player of the Year and CIF/SCGA runner-up last season, will be playing his final high school match unless his Indians earn a sectional berth at Soule Park. He did not qualify for postseason individual play, which begins May 13 at Sterling Hills GC in Camarillo for most area qualifiers.

SOUTHERN SECTION GOLF

--Alpha: L.A. Baptist, Paraclete to Cypress Ridge.

--Delphic: Campbell Hall to Soule Park.

--Foothill: Valencia, Hart, Canyon to Soule Park.

--Frontier: Calabasas to Soule Park.

--Golden: Highland, Quartz Hill, Palmdale to Soule Park.

--Marmonte: Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Agoura to Cypress Ridge.

--Mission: Loyola, Harvard-Westlake, St. Francis, Alemany to Soule Park.

--Pacific: Crescenta Valley to L.A. Royal Vista.

--Pacific View: Camarillo, Rio Mesa to Cypress Ridge.

--Prep: Flintridge Prep to Oak Valley.

--Tri-Valley: Oak Park to Soule Park.

CAPTION(S):

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SOUTHERN SECTION GOLF (see text)