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College of the Canyons

Sahya Kitabatake Brings Home 3C2A Individual State Championship

Information graphic featuring women's golf student-athlete Sahya Kitabatake and her scores from the two-day 3C2A Women's Golf State championship event held Nov. 17-18.
Recap Results
November 19, 2024

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

NIPOMO — College of the Canyons freshman Sahya Kitabatake capped her phenomenal freshman season by winning the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) Women's Golf Individual State Championship with a two-day score of one-over par at Monarch Dunes Golf Club on Monday. 

Kitabatake finished the two-day event at 143 (73/70) on the par-71 course. She began day-two action on Monday ranked second in the field, two shots behind Michelle Khin of Orange Coast College before battling cold and blustery conditions to surge ahead in the standings.

The freshman out of Kobe, Japan was crowned the 2024 Individual Champion with Mt. San Antonio College bringing home the team state title. 

Kitabatake, who also earns a spot on the 2024 All-State team, was the only golfer representing Canyons at the state championship event. Kitabatake placed third at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Championships earlier this month to qualify for the state championship tourney as an individual. 

She concluded the regular season by winning Western State Conference (WSC) Player of the Year honors and leading the Cougars to a third place conference finish. Kitabatake averaged a score of 71.44 strokes per round through nine conference rounds. During that span she also earned tournament medalist honors at six conference events, while finishing runner-up on two occasions. She also held the top spot at three straight events from Sept. 16-30 while posting under-par rounds of 70, 68, 66 in those tournaments. 

The COC women's golf program now boasts four individual state champions in its history with Jenny Lee (2007), Kristin Grimes (2011), Haruka Koda (2019) and Kitabatake (2024) all holding that claim 

Canyons previously won the team state championship in 2023, its most recent of five such titles in program history (2001, 2007, 2018, 2019, 2023), with all coming under longtime head coach Gary Peterson. 

Kitabatake's state championship is the 41st overall in school history (22 team, 19 individual), and the 12th among women's sports programs (five team, seven individual).

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.