LOBO WOMEN’S GOLF SIGN DARIAN ZACHEK & SOL LEE
University of New Mexico Women’s Golf Coach, Jill Trujillo, has signed two talented high school seniors – one from New Mexico and one from Texas – to join the Lobos’ program in 2015-16.
Sol Lee, one of the top amateur golfers in Texas, and Darian Zachek, a two-time state champion at Deming High, have signed national letters of intent to play at UNM.
“We are really excited to add two golfers of their caliber to our program,” said Trujillo, whose Lobos won the 2014 Mountain West Championship. “Darian obviously is one of the top players in New Mexico and we are thrilled to have her join our Lobo family in 2015. Darian is a talented athlete and will have great success at UNM.
“Sol is one of the hidden talents of Texas. She knows how to go low and will contribute greatly to our team.”
SOL LEE – COPPELL HIGH, COPPELL, TEXAS
Sol Lee almost became a tennis player. Well, maybe not almost, but that was her sport of choice at an early age before mom – Eun Young Han – decided that maybe golf was a better sport for a daughter probably not destined to be too tall.
“I was around eight and my mom saw that I wasn’t going to grow and I didn’t like to run,” said Sol. “She decided to throw away my tennis racket and buy some golf clubs. I really liked tennis, too.
“It’s kind of a funny story because I had $100 in the bank, you know, from relatives’ gifts. My mom spent it without my permission and I was kind of upset. It was like, ‘Here, I bought you some golf clubs and, by the way, you don’t have any money left.’”
The purchase turned out to be the best thing for Sol. She hit a few junior tournaments and discovered she had the skill and the drive to excel. In middle school, her golf coach starting talking up college ball and the LPGA. Sol like the way that sounded.
“I started getting pretty serious,” said Sol, who is a senior at Coppell High near Dallas, Texas. Coppell High carries the No. 1 ranking in Class 6A golf heading into the 2014-15 school year. Sol is coming off a win where she set an 18-hole Coppell High record. That 63 also was a course record at the Old Brickyard Course near South Dallas where the 2014 North Texas Girls Interscholastic/Mayfield Invitational was held. The Coppell girls’ team won that tourney by 20 shots.
Sol, born in South Korea, also has lived in Florida. Her mother was a competitive gymnast in South Korea, but Eun Young did not push that sport on her daughter.
“When she did gymnastics, she hit her arm on some equipment and she has this big scar that wraps around her arm,” said Sol. “She told me that gymnastics was way too dangerous. She also said it’s hard because she couldn’t eat all the foods she wanted to eat. I love to eat. You can’t be fat runner or a fat swimmer, but you can be a fat golfer.”
Sol – still pretty slim — also said it was easy to move to golf because her tennis partner – dad (Junhak Lee) – was spending too much time at college getting a degree in physical therapy. “In tennis, you need a partner,” said Sol. “In golf, you can just go out and play by yourself.”
At Coppell High, Sol has advanced to district, regional and state play. This summer she won an American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) title with a win at the Aaron’s/Bob Estes Abilene Junior Golf Tournament held at Abilene Country Club’s Club Course. Sol used a 68 to help her win that tourney by four shots. Sol also won the Lanny Wadkins Junior Championship in 2012 and finished second in July of 2014.
Sol says there are a lot of reasons she decided to become a Lobo, but UNM’s Championship Course was high on that list.
“I think it is so beautiful in New Mexico and it’s such a pretty campus,” said Sol. “But my favorite thing was the course and how well maintained it was. The short-game facility was awesome and you can go out and practice whenever you want. I think it’s a course where I can really challenge myself.”
Sol said her plan at UNM is to major in exercise science/kinesiology. “I have a direction,” said Sol. “My dad wants me to take over his clinic after I graduate.”
Well, if the LPGA doesn’t get in the way.
DARIAN RAE ZACHEK – DEMING HIGH
If there had been a strong family push to old family roots, Darian Rae Zachek might have become a New Mexico State Aggie.
“My mom was an Aggie and my dad was an Aggie,” said Darian.
However, mom and dad allowed Darian to make a choice without any push toward NMSU. Darian chose the University of New Mexico.
“They said it was up to me and the University of New Mexico was an easy choice,” said Darian, who is looking for her third individual state championship in her senior year at Deming High.
“Las Cruces is only an hour away from home but the practice facilities and the course at UNM are so nice. It’s just a bigger program and a better opportunity. My dad played baseball at New Mexico State, but he wanted my decision to be up to me.”
Darian said her introduction to the sport that would make her a Lobo came from dad (Kevin). “I was about seven and he took me out to the range,” she said. “I loved it right away.”
Darian said one of her earliest memories of golf was attending a junior clinic and taking lessons from older golfers. She says she is now giving the lessons.
“I like it,” she said. “It’s hard for me to coach young players sometimes because I see what they are doing wrong, but it’s difficult to explain it. But I like working with the young golfers.”
Darian said her first junior tournament was in Silver City, N.M., but she got the golf bug big time when she went to Junior World in San Diego, Calif.
“It was just so exciting,” said the Deming senior. “It was kind of intimidating to see such a big field with so much talent. I had never been to a tournament that big, but it got me going. The caliber of golfers who were 12 like me was amazing and then to think about how many were there doing the same thing that I wanted to do.”
What Darian wanted was to play college golf. That vision became crystal clear as she approached high school and was faced with a decision that so many athletes face in this day and age of specialization: Pick a sport.
“I played volleyball as a freshman,” said Darian. “And I had played basketball in the seventh and eighth grade and I really like basketball and I actually made varsity in the eighth grade. But I knew that golf probably was going to take me further than any other sport. And I’m only about 5-foot-5, so I knew I wasn’t going to do much in basketball.”
Darian said she believes one of her strengths in golf is her work ethic. She likes to practice.
“I probably like to practice more than I like to play because it’s important to me to be prepared,” said the four-time All-State player. “I spend a lot of time practicing and that’s probably because I’m very competitive. I want to be on top of my game and that means practicing.”
Darian also has another focus – the classroom. “I’m tied for valedictorian right now with a 4.0,” she said. “I hope I can keep it up. One of the things that impressed me at UNM was the support you get education wise. That was very impressive.”