A look at the streak
A capsule look at the Green Valley High girls golf dual match national record winning streak:
Although the now unfathomable event happened more than a decade ago, former Green Valley girls golf coach Del Sagers easily recalls the last time the Gators lost a dual match.
On a fall afternoon in 1992, the Gators were beaten by Chaparral, their only blemish on an 8-1 record. Tuesday evening, with that loss seemingly in another lifetime, Sagers stood among the crowd in the clubhouse at Legacy Golf Club with the current Gators as they celebrated their national record-breaking 129th consecutive dual match victory.
"I don't think they understand what they've done," said Sagers, who coached the team for its first nine years.
Junior Chelsea Pendleton medaled with a 42 to lead the Gators to a 228-313 victory over Coronado on an unseasonably cool and gusty October day. The Gators struggled at times with the difficult playing conditions, but they remained calm and collected throughout the round.
"We haven't had a day like this to play on," Pendleton said.
Pendleton's sister, Ashlei, helped lay the foundation of the streak in the late '90s, and Chelsea said her sister is as excited as she is.
"She was so nervous," Chelsea said. "She's like, 'Please be there.' She's really excited."
Nervous did not apply to the current Gators, though, as they appeared unflapped by the throng of supporters at the first tee and the trailing media throughout their wind-blown round.
"We felt like celebrities," Green Valley senior Tahnee Harrison said. "We had cameras all over us."
Current Gators coach Nick Garritano, in his first year with the team, led the post-round celebration, presenting the girls with T-shirts, hats, golf towels, and other souvenirs commemorating the day. Emblazoned on the white caps were the words 'Gator Golf' sandwiched around the number '129+'.
"We put '129+' on there for a reason," Garritano said. "This streak's not over."
Its origin, however, is inconspicuous. In 1997, somewhere in the middle of the developing record, a faceoff with similarly hot Cimarron-Memorial stirred up thought of the winning streak for Sagers and his team.
"We never really thought about it until we went over to Cimarron and played that team with (Stephanie) Keever," Sagers said of the current LPGA pro.
Sagers talked with Cimarron coaches about how both teams were on long winning streaks, and the former coach began to research how many consecutive wins Green Valley had collected after the Gators downed the Spartans.
From that point, the streak began to take on legendary quality, as Gator golfers passed on the word to their successors.
"Those who preceded us who started this record made it something we always kept in the back of our minds," said Vanderbilt University golfer Kimberly Kindig, a member of the four-time state champion Gator squads from 1996-1999.
Still, the thought of moving the winning streak into record territory seemed surreal to the current Gators. Even in victory Tuesday, most of the girls celebrated in very quiet, golf-like fashion with hugs and soft high-fives.
"I didn't think we'd be anywhere near breaking this record," Chelsea Pendleton said.
The Gators amassed the winning streak during regular season play in head-to-head matches, as playoff play is based on individual totals in competition with multiple teams. Garritano said that while most Gator teams featured star players, the strength of the squad always rests in its ability to post consistently good scores.
"The key to this team is the depth," Garritano said. "They've always had strong No. 1 and 2 players, but the difference has been that the No. 3 through 6 players always put up good scores."
The victory moved the Gators' record to 8-0, including 4-0 within their division.
"This record is just the icing on the cake that represents the many accomplishments that our teams throughout the years have accomplished," Kindig said.
The current team is comprised of Pendleton, Harrison, seniors Monica Brown and Lindsay Beckstead, juniors Nicole McGirr and Erin Schroeder and sophomore Whitney Harrison. Garritano follows Sagers, Ron Moracco and Jim Nicksick as coach.
They can all now call themselves national record-holders.
"Not many people get to say that," Garritano said.
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