Saddleback, Reedley capture men's golf regional championships as field for state tournament is set

SADDLEBACK ROARS TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIP

Complete Results: Team l Individual

CITY OF INDUSTRY – The Saddleback College men’s golf team captured the Southern California Regional Golf championship on Monday in a 36-hole marathon at Industry Hills Golf Club, giving the program its first regional championship since 2003.

The key to victory came from the opening round, where the Bobcats pulled out to a 17-stroke lead over the rest of the field at the 6,821-yard, par-71 course. Saddleback fired a 366 in the morning round, with Carson Adams leading the way with a 3-under-par, 68 to lead all golfers. Teammate Clayton Smith fired an ever-par 71, while Declan Lane was close behind with a 1-over 72.

In the afternoon session, it was College of the Desert who shot the low team score with a 372, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Bobcats, who shot a 375 for a two-round total of 741. For COD, Ivan Sablan joined Riverside’s Bingcheng Zheng for low round of the afternoon session, each shooting a 2-under 69.

The top four teams earned a trip to this weekend’s CCCAA Men’s Golf State Championships, which take place Sunday-Monday at Dragonfly Golf Club in Madera. Those four teams are Saddleback (741), Desert (761), Riverside (770) and Cuyamaca (776).

In addition to those four teams, the south will be sending six individuals up to the state finals, including Mt. San Antonio’s Ethan Thomas (143), Santa Barbara’s Ryan Gay (148), Citrus’ Kabir Chadna (149), Santa Barbara’s Caleb Rodriguez (150), Glendale’s Hank Norman (150) and Canyon’s Paul Grimonpon (151).

(Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast College Athletics)

REEDLEY OUTDISTANCES THE FIELD TO CAPTURE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIP

Complete Results: Team l Individual

IONE – Reedley College used a strong first round and then held off a second-round charge by Fresno City as the Tigers posted a six-shot win at the CCCAA Northern California Regional Championship this week at Castle Oaks Golf Course in Ione.

Reedley's Chase Bird and Elias Petterson each shot scores of 1-over 143 over the tournament's 36 holes to tie for second place, just a shot behind medalist Markus Nanpei of Napa Valley, who put together rounds of 68 and 74. The Tigers had six players in the top 15 places to help  them to the regional title. Reedley posted a team score of 17-over 727 while Fresno City (733), Napa Valley (743) and Sierra (748) rounded out the four qualifiers for next week's state championship at Dragonfly Golf Club inMadera. San Joaquin Delta (800), San Jose City (805), Modesto (810) and Taft (930) placed fifth through eighth, respectively.

Reedley jumped to its first-round lead behind rounds of 71 from Bird and 72 from Petterson. They traded those scores in the second round. Preston Harris added a 70 and Jack Peters contributed a 73 to help. Fresno City, though, battled back in the second round with a 5-over 360 team score - the tournament's best - to cut into the Tigers' lead. The Rams, who were paced by Josh Watkin's 1-under 70 in the second round, didn't have a countable score higher than 73 in the round. Nick Shultz helped highlight the effort with a 72.

Shultz (144) and Giuseppe Aliotti (146) were fourth and tied for fifth, respectively, while Dylan Meskowsky of Sierra also tied for fifth. Sierra's Patrick Dumag, whose 69 in the second round was best among all players, tied for seventh with Watkins at 5 over.