Northside Christian Girls Golf Team Wins State Title

JEFF BERLINICKE
Published November 7, 2004

ST. PETERSBURG - It took 54 years, but some Pinellas County school was bound to do it.

The surprise to some, though, was that Northside Christian, featuring four players not even out of ninth grade, became the first Pinellas school to win a state girls golf championship when it took the Class A title in Port St. Lucie on Wednesday.

The Mustangs have no seniors and feature a sixth-grader and seventh-grader, making them one of the youngest yet most talented teams in the state.

Just getting to school is a challenge for some Northside players, as few live within easy distance. Freshman Whitney Wenglasz has a 90-minute commute every day through traffic from Oldsmar, but the young Mustangs say Northside's academics and coach D.J. Jackson make the hike worth it.

"I didn't care about the drive or anything," Whitney said. "I was looking for the best academics I could find, and that's here at Northside. Plus, I knew everyone on the team."

That was key to the Northside success story. The Mustangs placed high last year, but Jackson and his team got the extra boost this summer when Whitney and sixth-grader Dakoda Dowd decided to play at Northside. Dakoda is young, but she fired a 72 to take second at regionals, then posted 75-76 at state to finish second on the team behind Danielle Jackson, who went 74-71. The newcomers combined with Danielle, Sophie Dembroski, Morgan Jackson and Ryan Ashburn on the championship team.

"The turning point was when we found out Dakoda and Whitney were coming here," Jackson said. "Since we all knew each other, I knew we could be pretty good."

The new players put a little pressure on the returnees.

"At the beginning, after Whitney and Dakoda came here, there was almost way too much competition at practice," Jackson said. "By the end of the year, though, we finally became more of a team unit and everybody stopped comparing themselves to each other."

Danielle was the leader on and off the course. As the coach's daughter, she took on the extra responsibility of team captain and has been first-team All-Pinellas County since her eighth-grade season. After taking medalist honors in districts, she struggled to a 10th-place finish in regionals before rebounding with a 78-82 at the state tournament.

She said she and her team were never worried during state, even though they had to wait two hours after they were finished to find out where they stood.

"I wasn't worried the whole time," said Danielle, who is preparing to join the basketball team. "We just ate lunch and waited. We didn't feel any pressure, but it took a little while."

After the final scores from rival Saddlebrook were posted, it was time for some fun.

"Lunch took forever," Sophie Dembroski said. "Then coach started jumping up and down and we knew we won."

Coach Jackson said he hopes the whole team sticks around for one more title next season. Only Danielle and Sophie will be seniors, and he's got a growing franchise with the rest of them. Most of the Mustangs are accomplished on the Florida Juniors circuit, and Dakoda is gaining national reviews as she prepares for seventh grade.

"This is such a great team," said Dakoda, who is homeschooled. "Sophie and Danielle are like two big sisters to me and are really excellent role models. Morgan's attitude is always the same whether she's going low or not, and I have learned a lot from that."

Each team member started playing golf at an early age, and their coach doesn't let up during the season.
"We all started when we were little kids," Sophie said. "We have all had to practice every single day even when we didn't want to. We hit bucket after bucket after bucket, but it paid off for us."