Canyons Headed Back to State, Takes Third at SoCal Championships
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
SIMI VALLEY — College of the Canyons finished the two-day 3C2A Southern California Championship in third place to clinch a second straight trip to the state tourney for the Lady Cougars.
Canyons served host to the event Nov. 5-6 at Simi Hills Golf Course which featured 10 competing programs from across the region along with a number of individual qualifiers.
COC carded a score of 652 (330/322) on the par-71 course after shaving eight strokes off its opening round score.
Mt. San Antonio College won the regional championship with a low score of 628 (315/313). Moorpark College was second at 650 (336/314) to narrowly edge Canyons. Fullerton College at 662 (336/326) finished fourth and was the final team from the region to qualify for the state tourney.
Cathilyn Lee of Fullerton also won the individual regional championship with a two-day three-under-par score of 139 (70/69).
Motoko Shimoji was once again the top performer for Canyons, ending the regional tourney tied for seventh place (148-74/74) after back-to-back three-over-par rounds.
Flora Peugnet (157-80/77) was 12th in the individual standings and Brooke Maxwell (173-89/84) turned in a five-stroke improvement from her opening round to finish in 27th. Nisha Gaulke (174-87/87) was the final name on the Canyons tally in a tie for 29th place.
Elena Ortuno-Montalban (181-91/90) finished in a tie for 34th but was scratched from the final team score.
Mt. SAC, Moorpark, Canyons and Fullerton will now advance to the 3C2A State Championships being played Nov. 12-13 at Hunter Ranch Golf Course in Paso Robles.
The trip to Paso Robles represents the COC women's golf program's 12th appearance (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023) at the State Championship tournament.
Canyons has won four team state titles (2001, 2007, 2018, 2019) and three individual state championships (Jenny Lee (2007), Kristin Grimes (2011), Haruka Koda (2019) since the program's establishment in 1999, all coming under head coach Gary Peterson.
3C2A SOCAL REGIONAL TEAM SCORES
1. Mt. SAC (628-315/313) 2. Moorpark (650-336/314) 3. Canyons (652-330/322) 4. Fullerton (662-336/326) 5. Bakersfield (682-342/340) 6. Desert (689-342/347) 7. Santa Barbara (713) 8. Saddleback (714-350/363) 9. Orange Coast (830-358/372) 10. Cuyamaca (769-384/385)
3C2A SOCAL REGIONAL CANYONS INDIVIDUAL SCORES
Motoko Shimoji (148-74/74 – T7th); Flora Peugnet (157-80/77 – 12th); Brooke Maxwell (173-89/84 –27th); Nisha Gaulke (174-87/87 – T29th); Elena Ortuno-Montalban (181–91/90 – T34th).
Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
