With five of six veteran players back from a Nevada Class 3-A state championship team, Pahrump Valley's girls start the 2006 high school golf season Thursday. And the meet has instant importance, since it is against the Lady Trojans' Southern 3-A League rivals -- host Mesquite Virgin Valley, Overton Moapa Valley, Boulder City, and Las Vegas Faith Lutheran.

Tee time at Falcon Ridge Golf Course is 11 a.m.

Coach Julie Floyd, whose teams have won three state titles (1997, 2002, 2006) in her 16-year career, greeted returnees Desiree Fortin, Ashley Keller, Courtney Salmon, Jasper Biggs and Ashlee Bartholomew on the first day of preseason practice last week at Mountain Falls.

Fortin, a senior, is a two-time Southern 3-A player of the year and has been playing in high-level junior tournaments all summer. Keller, a sophomore, has competed in many Pahrump Valley Junior Golf Association-sanctioned tournaments, including the prestigious Gene Goins Memorial, in which she finished second, two strokes behind Rachel Lindemann. The only senior to start for the 2005 state championship team, Lindemann is now at the University of North Dakota.

"Desiree shot a 75 at Mountain Falls the other day and Ashley has consistently been in the 80s there -- and she shot a 39 the other day," said Floyd. "Desiree had 39 Monday, with a triple- and double-bogey to start that round; she bounced back with three birdies."

In the 2005 state tournament which had Class A Wells and 3-A league rival Virgin Valley as primary challengers for the team championship, Fortin was third, Lindemann seventh and Keller 21st. Salmon was 15th, Bartholomew 34th and Biggs 44th in the finals, played at Boulder City's two courses. Also competing for starting positions are Megan Morales, Nicole Balding and Samantha Stearns.

"It will be interesting to see who the other teams have," Floyd said of the Thursday match. "Cathleen Ward is gone at Boulder City, but Kandra Sumedhatip is back at Faith Lutheran." Both were challengers for player of the year honors in 2004 and 2005.

The Lady Trojans host their 3-A rivals Sept. 21 and they will be on their home course Oct. 12 for the Southern regionals. On Sept. 15, Pahrump Valley will play in an invitational tournament at San Clemente, Calif., and there will be home-and-home matches against Costa Mesa, Calif.