SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sarah Huarte Glynn was a standout golfer for the St. Francis golf program that broke barriers and hung banners at a historic and unprecedented rate that is forever recognized on the walls of the school. For her accomplishments, she is one of seven individuals selected for the first class of the Athletics Hall of Game to be inducted Nov. 17.
"It is really special when I think back on my athletic career," said Glynn of the Hall of Fame honor. "It all started in the eighth grade with the decision to come here. A huge part of that decision was based off the athletics and tradition St. Francis had. It was a part of our family and we all played sports. It really steered me in this direction. I knew this was where I wanted to go."
Glynn made an impact immediately with the golf team, helping the team win four Sac-Joaquin Section and CIF Northern California regional team titles over her four years under fellow inductee Head Coach Diane Aguer.
"I remember the whole experience and I remember practice at Haggin Oaks," said Glynn when asked about her favorite moment. "I remember sitting on the 18th green watching my teammates coming in at NorCals my senior year. I remember banquets with Diane and Tom (Morton). It was a really fun team atmosphere."
She had a lot of individual success as a Troubadour. Glynn was a three-time Sacramento Bee All-Metro selection and Bee Player of the Year. She also won the 1999 Northern California Regional tournament.
Glynn started playing the sport in an era that did not feature girl's tournaments. The Troubies were the only girl's team in the area and competed against the boys.
"It was cool playing against the boys," said Glynn. "There were no other girl's golf teams. I remember the friends and boys we met from different schools because we played with them. They did not treat us like girls and not because they did not want to beat by us. We were pretty good golfers and played the same tees as them. It was really interesting back then."
They did not back down. When the CIF started a regional championship for the girls it was won annually by the Troubies. They were the elite team in the section and Northern California.
"It was something that drove our team to be as good as we were because of who we were competing and playing against," said Glynn. "We were fearless."
Golf was not her only sport with backgrounds in hoops and soccer. When she arrived at St. Francis, she wanted to be part of everything.
"I wanted to play all the sports I could," said Glynn. "I knew the coaches were good and the teams were great. It was something I wanted from the very beginning."
She played two seasons of basketball on the junior varsity team. It was that experience that changed the course of her life. She injured her knee in the first game of her sophomore season against Bear River, ending her career on the court. She later wrote about the experience in her collegiate application.
"I found my Cal essay that I wrote about the day I hurt my knee in basketball and what it meant for me in the future," said Glynn of the path it set for her. "It led to my golf career. It was not a decision I made. It was a decision that was made for me."
Golf was now her focus and she thrived in the team culture created by Aguer.
"When I no longer played basketball and I knew I was going to play golf, Diane was the first team coach I had," recalled Glynn. "I learned a lot from her about the team aspect. Everyone sees golf as an individual sport. After coaching at the collegiate level for eight years, it definitely is but there is an extremely important team aspect to it."
Glynn's success on the links and strong summer before her senior year – one that saw her win five tournaments throughout the state including the California State Junior Tournament in Monterey, the California State Fair Junior Championship, and the NCGA Match Play Championship, led to a scholarship opportunity at University of California, Berkeley.
Glynn went on to be a two-time All-American at Cal and three-time All-Pac-10 first-team selection for the Golden Bears. It was the performance in the final tournament of her career that earned her selection into the university's Hall of Fame.
She capped off her collegiate career by winning the 2004 NCAA Division I Women's individual title and the then the 2004 Honda Award, the nation's top collegiate award given to one student-athlete in each sport.
It was unexpected but welcome end to her career. During her junior season, the Bears had been one of the favorites entering the NCAA Championship but they did not play well. A year later, they were just as talented but did not enter the final event with an expectations. Glynn and her teammates flourished.
"It was kinda like a dream," said Glynn. "I tell this to people all the time. Lightening can strike. I had 25 birdies over four rounds and I has averaged 2.5 birdies per round (before that tournament). It was one of those weeks. I had not had that great of a spring. I hadn't made the decision if I wanted to play professionally. I was going to see how I played at the end of the year and see if I was still wanting to do it."
It was another life changing moment for Glynn.
"Everything came together that week," said Glynn. "I remember my mom saying, 'Why can't you do that all the time'. It was the best tournament I have had my entire life. It was a good time to have it. It is the nature of the sport. You can shoot 80 one week and then you shoot 69-67."
She helped her team to a third-place national finish and had new title that would be on her resume for the rest of her life – National Champion.
She would go on to play professionally. She played in two U.S. Women's Open Championships, spent two years (2005-06) on the Symetra Tour and earned conditional status on the LPGA Tour in 2007.
Following her professional career, she transitioned back to the collegiate ranks as a coach. She coached at University of California, Davis and University of San Francisco before stepping away two years ago. In her final three seasons, she coached former Troubie Emily Laskin at USF.
"When I think back to my career in coaching and what I do now, people who get into coaching had great coaches growing up and it was what made them want to do this. I can think of three great coaches in my life and two of them were here at St. Francis. Diane and Coach Connie, my basketball coach, and my next one was Nancy McDaniel at Cal. Those three coaches and their styles, while different, made me appreciate what a coach can do for a player and how they can bring the best out of them."
She has since moved back to the Sacramento area and started Next Level coaching + consulting with her sister, Laura Meagher '02, who was a standout pole vaulter at St. Francis and Notre Dame.
"It is fun," said Huarte of her two-year old business. "It is an extension of what I was doing at the college level with younger kids. I am using my knowledge from recruiting as a college coach, and not just golf, to help them through the recruiting process. Most of it is helping them communicate with coaches and letting them know what coaches want to hear and need to hear to play for them."
Glynn lives in Shingle Springs with her husband, Sean, and their children, Holly and Reese.
Glynn will be inducted as part of the inaugural Hall of Fame Class on November 17 at 6 p.m. For tickets to the dinner banquet in the St. Francis Gymnasium, click here.
