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13 MVP: Kirstin Angosta

Posted at 7:23 AM, Jan 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-13 10:51:21-05

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's rare for a high school athlete to make a varsity sports squad as a freshman, let alone lead the team, but this month's 13 MVP did just that.

13 Action News Anchor Ross DiMattei introduces you to Kirstin Angosta, who led the Bishop Gorman girls golf team to a state championship -- as a 14-year-old freshman.

Golf is a game of confidence, consistency, and control. At just 14 years old, Kirstin Angosta's golf game already has all three.

"It’s a really big start, even though I have a lot of big dreams coming along with me. So, with this big success, I think it’s a really great start on that path," said Angosta, describing her phenomenal freshman season at Bishop Gorman High School.

During her first year at Bishop Gorman, Angosta won the NIAA Desert Region Golf Championships individual title in October. Before that, she won the 2019 Chappy Wheeler Invitational High School Golf Championships individual title in Palm Springs, CA with a total score of 136, including a career-best round of 65. But Angosta is most proud of how she helped lead her team to its first state championship in more than a decade.

"It meant a lot because last time we won states, it was in 2006. And with me coming in and everyone else winning state, it’s just a big celebration," said Angosta.

Kirstin's coach says she can hit every shot, but he believes it's her brain that's brought her so much early success.

"She has one of the highest golfer IQ's that I think I’ve seen. She’s very prepared. She goes in with a game plan. She knows when to put on the gas and went to put on the brake. So, she’s very smart around the golf course," said Jim Stanfill, the head golf coach for the boys and girls teams at Bishop Gorman.

From the course to the classroom, Angosta says it's the same skills that make her a great golfer that have made her a math whiz and helped her earn a perfect 4.0 GPA.

"It’s just like golf. You think so much about it and then you problem solve and then once you solve it, it’s like the greatest feeling ever," said Angosta.

Kirstin credits her parents for making her mature beyond her years and helping her become a 13 MVP.

"They’ve been teaching me the mature way ever since I started playing golf and they’ve been treating me as an adult so I've been taking in their advice," said Angosta.

Right now, Kirstin Angosta is the top-ranked female golfer in the country amongst high schoolers graduating in 2023 and she's seventh overall among all high schoolers, according to Global Junior Golf Rankings.

Angosta says her goal is to one day play division one college golf and possibly professionally after that. She's not sure yet where or what she wants to study, but considering how she's 14 and still a freshman, she still has plenty of time to decide.

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