The Year's Finest On The Courses
Cox’s Chris Valianos (above) and Jamestown’s Victoria Newberry (below) were named Gameday Magazine’s top male and female golfers of 2009-10. Photos by Jason Norman
Starting off the first high school sports season of 2009-10, both of Hampton Roads's top public school Gameday-picked golfers had something to prove.
Chris Valianos wanted to help show the Beach District - and the rest of the state - that Cox's golf team wasn't a chain, which breaks with the loss of one link, but a rope, which can lose a strand here and there and still stay strong. In short, the Falcons hoped to show everyone that they could win without multiple state titlist Brinson Paolini, who graduated in June.
A few dozen miles north, Victoria Newbury and the rest of the Jamestown squad wanted to grab the last push that would get them the state title that had eluded the school since 1999.
Both would have more naysayers than just their on-course opponents; many people around the Beach predicted that Cox would fall without Paolini, that this would be the year that Kellam would reign supreme over everyone. Though many in the Bay Rivers District estimated that the Eagles would take the top local title (they'd done so for seven years running) and the regional title (five years in a row), few believed that Jamestown had enough firepower to knock Blacksburg off the Group AA state pedestal it had occupied for the past three seasons.
Valianos had been one of Cox's top (not literally, as the object of the course sport is to get the lowest total) scorers for his first three seasons, placing on the state-winning teams of his freshman and sophomore year (Cox fell to Kellam for the regional title last season, and failed to three-peat at state).
"As you get older, you're supposed to get better, so the coaches expected a lot out of me since I was a freshman," he says. "Coming in as a freshman, I was shooting in the 70s, and coaches assume that freshmen should shoot at 70s or mid-80s. When I came here, shooting in the 70s was something I had to do, and they knew from then on that I was going to get better."
Though she'd been a links fan since elementary school, Newbury really teed off on the sport when she started working out with the Jamestown squad just before she actually enrolled at the school.
"(Golf) runs in my family," she said. "It's an activity we all do. I played off and on until my eighth grade year, when I started playing constantly."
One of less than a handful of ladies on the Bay Rivers tour, Newbury grabbed her first medalist honor just before the end of her freshman year.
"That was great," she said. "It was a nice way to end the season." As they had for so many seasons, her Eagles won the district and region, but fell short at states, finishing fifth in her freshman year and third last season.
"The guys have helped me out with the mental part (of golf)," she said. "You have to really be strong and stay focused. You keep out the distractions, not letting one bad score ruin your round. It's not always about how you hit the golf ball."
Before their season was half over, the Cox golfers were already proving their doubters mistaken; the team rolled through the regular season, going unbeaten in the district and finishing with a defeat of Kellam for the regular season title. Just like in five of his seven matches that season, Valianos took the medalist title in the Kellam win.
"I've been hitting the ball a lot farther," he said. "I worked out last winter, and gained about 30 yards in distance. That helped a lot. But putting's definitely the key. I worked a lot on putting."
He also tried to ensure that Cox's teamwork extended far beyond the greens, fairways, and occasional sand trap.
"I had to play good golf," he said, "but I also had to lead team make sure everyone played good golf, make sure everyone didn't have any problems. We always go out to lunch and dinner. When we see each other in the hallways, we always say 'How you doing? What's going on?'"
But as smoothly as Cox's regular season had been, the district tournament tossed a nuclear bomb in the Falcons' path; Kellam charged past them for a 39-stroke victory.
"We knew that we were going to regionals already," said Valianos, whose squad got an Eastern Region bid for winning the season title. "We could have done better; knowing that we were going to regionals meant we didn't have to play as hard, but we should have played harder. We kind of slacked off and let that go."
In the days leading up to the regional event, the players headed to Suffolk's Sleepy Hole Golf Course to try to get a feel for the course. But by the time the tournament came about, they had something much more important to deal with; a week before regionals, teammate Moss Clark suddenly lost his father.
"We were all pulling for Moss," Valianos said. "We wanted to dedicate it all to him." Clark, who'd managed just one medalist throughout the season, sharing it with Valianos, roared through the region to take the individual title. His two-day 144 helped Cox finish with a 607- a full 10 strokes below Kellam.
"Moss winning was a great deal," said Valianos, whose 149 placed him second on the team. "It was an amazing thing, because everyone from every team wanted him to win."
Meanwhile, Newbury grabbed another medalist honor as her team swept the district and region. On Oct. 12, Jamestown hosted the state event at the Williamsburg National Golf Club, just across the street from the school.
"I knew to use what I could, just like the whole team," Newbury said. "We wanted to do better than we had the past years. We knew we had a chance if we kept playing like we could. There was pressure, but we knew we had it in us, and we just kept on believing." Finishing the first day, her 74 was second on the team, and Jamestown was leading the field with a 291, two strokes ahead of Blacksburg.
"My putts weren't dropping the first day, and I had one really rough hole," she said. "On the second day, the putts started dropping, and I made some birdies."
She wouldn't be the only one; not only did Newbury drop her score to 71 on the next day, she and her team managed to hold off Blacksburg to bring home a new state championship.
"It was nerve-wracking," she said. "We didn't know what was going on. We were all waiting on hole 18 while everyone finished. It felt great to win. We've been like a family, always cheering on each other."
The next week, the Cox men headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains for the state AAA games at the Waterfront Country Club.
"We were all fired up," Valianos said. "I didn't want to go out as a senior and not make it to states. Going by the course, the first thing I saw was the fairway leaning sideways, and the first thing I thought was this was a tough course."
Over the next few days, he and his squad found out just how right they were, as the course's hilly land (uncommon in the Beach area) and fast greens drove one golfer after another down the leaderboard.
"It was more slick then I imagined," Valianos recalled. "The greens and the fairways were fast. If you hit a good drive, it might get kicked into the rough."
By early the second day of competition, Cox was out of contention for the team title. But as the event wound down, Valianos and Battlefield's Andrew Lister managed to stay above the individual pack; after both shot 75 on the first day, they were almost even for the title on the second. Coming down to the last hole, Lister managed to finish with a 73, and Valianos had a 20-foot putt that would send the event to a playoff.
It didn't fall, ending the event, and his high school career.
"That's just the way it goes," he said of the putt. "(Overall) I was extremely happy. There were a lot of good golfers. Most of time, they'd tear up kid from Virginia Beach that's not used to hills." His final of 149 placed him at least five strokes above any other area player.
He hasn't picked a college yet, although Valianos mentioned Old Dominion University and Virginia Wesleyan College as possibilities. He'd like to study engineering or architecture - between golf games, of course!
"This is one of the best teams, and I was truly grateful to play on it," he said of the 2009 Falcons. "Everyone has a good sense of humor. We make each other laugh all the time."
Newbury now prepares for her own leadership role for Jamestown - next season, she'll be a senior, setting an example for the newcomers.
"She has improved mentally," said Jamestown coach Doug Meredith. "She bounces back quickly from any kind of adversity, whether it's a bad shot or whatever it is, and I think that will take her far next year."
