By Dave Curtis of the Marin IJ | 10/19/2009

A sustained downpour Monday allowed the Branson School to officially end Marin Catholic's reign over the MCAL girls golf world.

The Bulls, second in the league the previous four seasons, supplanted Marin Catholic as MCAL champions after conditions at San Geronimo Golf Course put a halt to the MCAL tournament with no player having finished more than seven holes. With approval from North Coast Section officials, the regular-season standings became the official order of finish in the league.

As a result, Branson, as league champion, advances to the Tournament of Champions in Arcata on Nov. 2. Justin-Siena, officially the second-place team, qualifies for the North Regional qualifier at Tilden Park Golf Course in Berkeley next Monday while Marin Catholic and Redwood, which finished third and fourth, are possible at-large invitees to the regional qualifier. Additionally, Novato's Ali Hoffmann, Tam's Brooke Wenig and Drake's Breahna Dunsing could be in the regional field.

"It's great to win it," Branson coach Al Endriss said. "I was confident even if we played the whole thing out that we would be OK. But it's too bad it ended that way. In all the time I've coached, it's the first time I've seen our tournament rained out."

"We were really excited to come out here and play," Branson's Alex Cook said. "We've been so focused the entire season. Then to come out here and have the weather be so bad and rainy and cold, it's just a disappointment that we have to stop. ... It was just a mental test. In this kind of weather, I don't think skill was even a factor anymore. It was just your attitude, how you approach each shot."

The players were pulled from the course about two hours after play began as puddles formed in the fairways and sand traps and the greens became virtual waterslides. Lightning then flashed as the players headed for the clubhouse. About an hour later, the players were informed that they were finished for the day.

"Once the thunder started and the lightning, there was no way we could be out there," Marin Catholic coach Bob Sibbitt said. "I think that was fair."

"It was fun as an experience to play in the rain, but it's definitely nice to be back and dry," Redwood's Madison Winey said. "It was getting to the point where everyone was playing pretty poorly. But it was fun. It was kind of annoying but it was fun."

Tournament director Tim Navone said he had hoped to get the entire round in Monday. But when the weather worsened, he said he understood the coaches' desire to call it a day.

"The safety from my perspective and the league perspective was to get the players off the course," Navone said. "There was talk (about sending the players back out after the rain abated), but coaches unanimously voted not to go back out on the course."

Even before safety became an issue, some players were ready to call it a day.

"It was worse than NCS last year, which we thought was unreachable," said Marin Catholic's Kelsey Fitzpatrick, who was among the Wildcats who played through the rain last fall in the NCS Tournament of Champions. "I thought it would be fine, but it was an awful game. By the fourth hole, I was done. We want to go out there and compete, just not in this weather."

With the tournament in the books, the waiting game now begins. Though Marin Catholic and Redwood are expected to get into the regional qualifier, it's possible one or both could be squeezed out when the NCS announces its field Wednesday. That could then have a domino effect on the individual invitees, with girls from MC or Redwood then falling into the at-large pool and possibly threatening a berth for Hoffmann, Wenig or Dunsing.

"I wanted to qualify for NCS," Hoffmann said. "But really it didn't matter if I didn't make it. I just wanted to play well."