Women’s golf finishes second at regional finals

The Saddleback women's golf team finished in second place at the CCCAA Southern California Regional Finals on Monday in San Dimas.  The strong performance advances the Gauchos to the state tournament next Sunday.

Saddleback has been a mixed bag for the majority of the season, sometimes playing great and at other times showing inconsistency.  The great version showed up on Sunday and Monday at Via Verde Country Club, advancing the Gauchos to the biggest stage of all.

Saddleback shot 346 on Sunday and was in third place entering the final round, needing a solid performance to advance.  They came up with their best round in nearly five weeks, firing a team score of 328.

Katie Stribling led the Gauchos, shooting 78 and 75 for a two-day total of 153.  She finished second in medalist play on the par-72 trek and now heads back to Morro Bay for the state championships where she finished fourth in the state last season.

Saddleback also received tremendous performances on Monday from Tomoko Kim and Lauren Lee, who both shot 81 on Monday. 

College of the Canyons led the field of teams, shooting a two-day total of 645.  Saddleback was second at 674 while Orange Empire Conference champion College of the Desert was third (682) and Santa Barbara City College was fourth (702).

The CCCAA State Tournament will be played at Morro Bay Golf Club starting Sunday.

Southern Cal Regional
At par-72 Via Verde CC
Final scores
 Team (top 4 advance to State) -- 1, Canyons 327-318--645. 2, Saddleback 346-328--674. 3, Desert 344-338--682. 4, SBCC 350-352--702. 5, Mt. SAC 360-346--706. 6, Cuyamaca 375-354--729. 7, Mt. San Jacinto 415-397--812. 8, Bakersfield 468-480--948. 9, Antelope Valley, no score.
 Medalist -- 1, Haruka Koda, Canyons, 72-73--145. 2, Katie Stribling, Saddleback, 78-75--153. 3 (tie), Precious Saelee, Mt. SAC, 78-80--158; Jessie Lin, Canyons, 81-77--158. 5, Raegan Preece, Desert, 78-83-161. 6, Pratima Sherpa, SBCC, 87-77--164.