TEMECULA — When the Vista Murrieta girls golf team broke tryouts, longtime coach Ryan Heise knew he’d have a young but talented team with three freshman and two sophomores in his starting lineup. Just how good they would be remained to be seen. After two weeks into this 2024 season, the answer to that question is very good. So good in fact that Vista Murrieta scared their school record on Thursday afternoon in a Southwestern League dual match against rival Great Oak, defeating the Wolfpack 184-208 at Temecula Creek Inn’s Creek Course to grab early control of the race for a team championship. Fay Jia, a freshman who won the individual title at Monday’s San Clemente/Rainbow Sandals Tournament with a round of 69 (the program record in relation to par on a par 73), led the way with a 3-under-par round of 33. Jia made birdies at the third, fifth, and eighth holes using stellar wedge play from 75 yards and in to leave herself less than three feet on each birdie opportunity. Joining her in that first group was sophomore Breanna Noble, who shot a 1-over round of 37 with a birdie at the par five eighth hole, getting up and down from short and right of the green. “What I love about playing high school golf is that it gives me an opportunity to work on my wedge and short iron game…something my dad is always trying to get me to spend more time on,” said Jia, who played 36 holes this week in 10 under par. “That SCGA Women’s Amateur last year made me realize just how much work my short game needed and it’s nice to see it paying off.” The duo led Great Oak’s  Alisa and Jessica Li by seven shots with one group in. Alisa Li started her round with a birdie at the first hole, hitting a hybrid to six feet and making a quick, downhill putt. She’d finish with a 40, making three bogeys and a double bogey in a five hole stretch. Older sister Jessica shot a round of 37 with one lone birdie at the eighth hole. Related Articles High School Sports | Teddy McGee helps Redlands football team run past Grand Terrace High School Sports | Rancho Christian and Xavier Prep football teams play to stalemate High School Sports | Beaumont football team pulls away from Murrieta Mesa in second half High School Sports | Murrieta Valley football team powers past King High School Sports | Centennial girls volleyball team sweeps Roosevelt in Big VIII League showdown The Broncos’ Iri Chen (36) and Wren Saithong (38) won their group 74-83 against Great Oak’s Skylar Earle (39) and Kimiko Carpenter (44). Chen made her lone birdie at the fifth hole, which is the course’s hardest hole to offset a bogey at No.1, while Saithong was steady with two bogeys and seven pars. Vista Murrieta freshman Samantha Rodriguez birdied No.8 to give the Broncos a shot at tying the program record, shot in 2012, but a bogey left them a stroke off the mark. It finished a week in which the young Broncos shot the program’s second- and third-best nine-hole scores in program history along with the second lowest 18-hole team score. “Part of the key for us is realizing the high school game is fun which allows them to play loose,” Heise said. “We’ve definitely gotten off to a good start but now we have to sustain that momentum and keep working hard.” Vista Murrieta (4-1 overall, 2-0 in league) is at Ayala on Monday, while Great Oak (4-3, 1-1) hosts Chaparral.