College of the Canyons men’s golf returned to the winner’s circle at the Western State Conference event at Rio Bravo Country Club on Monday, March 10, with the Cougars taking a four-stroke victory ahead of runner-up Ventura College.

Canyons (58-6) had previously finished second at the WSC tourney on March 3, but was able to rebound to win its fourth conference event of the season.

COC (375) topped the field ahead of Ventura (381) and Santa Barbara City College (382) across the top three spots.

Cougars sophomore Ryan Giardino earned medalist honors with an even par score of 72. The round was Giardino’s low mark of the season and was his first individual win of the year.

Jacques Struyf was next at a two-over score of 74 to finish in a tie for third place.

Ethan Posthumus, who earned medalist honors a week before, carded a round of 76 to settle into a tie for ninth place in the field of 48. Alexis Benchelef was also part of the tying position with his score of 76.

Owen Crockett rounded out the Cougars’ scorers with a mark of 77, placing him in a tie for 17th place. Ed Beehag competed but had his round (86/38th place) was scratched from the final team score.

Canyons next heads to Crystalaire Country Club for the WSC neutral event on Monday, March 17.

TEAM SCORES
1. Canyons (375) 2. Ventura (381) 3. Santa Barbara (382) 4. Glendale (392) 5. Bakersfield (396) 6. Citrus (397) 7. Antelope Valley (411) 8. Allan Hancock (427)

CANYONS INDIVIDUAL SCORES 
Ryan Giardino (72-medalist); Jacques Struyf (74-T3rd); Ethan Posthumus (76-T9th); Alexis Benchelef (76-T9th); Owen Crockett (77-T17th); Ed Beehag (86-38th)

FIELD TOP-35 SCORES

1 -72 – Giardino (COC)
2 – 73 – Willmore (SBCC)
T3 – 74 – Struyf (COC); Gordon (GCC); Van Fossen (BC); Alvarado (CIT)
T7 – 75 – Gonzalez (VC); Bublitz (VC)
T9 – 76 – Posthumus (COC); Benchelef (COC); Blinderman (SBCC); Rodriguez (SBCC); Ruggiero (GCC); Fisher (VC); Gahshan (CIT); Phillips (AVC)
T17 – 77 – Crockett (COC); Flores (VC)
T19 – 78 – Watts (SBCC); Darwin (VC); Brown (BC); Montellano (CIT); Mendoza (AHC); Peters (AVC)
T25 – 79 – Munro (SBCC); de Mollerat (SBCC); Loughran (GCC); Chapital (VC); Dickenson (BC)
30 – 80 – Alle (GCC)
T31 – 81 – Stone (BC); Jazwiecki (AVC)
33 – 82 – Holstrom (CIT)
T34 – 83 – Gutierrez (GCC); Denne (GCC); Londono (AHC)
37 – 84 – Gomez (BC)
38 – 86 – Beehag (COC)
T39 – 87 – Distelrath (CIT); Elena (AHC); Ireland (AVC)
42 – 89 – Cisneros (AHC); Dubski (AVC)
T44 – 90 – Bradford (BC); Caro (CIT); Holland (AHC)
47 – 91 – Borsch (AHC)
48 – 99 – Bolyard (AVC)

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