Story and photo by Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information

College of the Canyons Men’s Golf team teed off at the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Championships on Monday, May 8 with one Cougar playing well enough on the course at Industry Hills Golf Club to advance to next week’s state championship tournament.

Canyons, the two-time defending state champions from 2019 and 2022, was playing at the Southern California Regional Championships for a 27th consecutive season dating back to 1995.

The Cougars finished seventh in the team standings with a five-man, 36-hole score of 790 (389/401).

Saddleback College won the Southern California Regional Championship with a score of (741-366/375). College of the Desert (761-389/372) finished runner-up and Riverside City College (770-383/387) was third. Cuyamaca College (776-391/385) claimed the final spot for the state tournament by finishing fourth.

Santa Barbara City College (779-386/393) and Ventura College (785-386/399) were next followed by Canyons (790-389/401), Mt. San Antonio College (793-408/385) Orange Coast College (798-395/403) and Glendale College (806-400/406) rounding out the field.

COC freshman Paul Grimonpon led the Cougars with his 36-hole score of 151 (73/78). Grimonpon carded a two-over-par opening round of 73 to get off to a hot start, then followed up with a round of 78.

Those scores placed Grimonpon 13th and qualified him to compete as an individual at the upcoming CCCAA State Championships.

COC sophomore Dom De Luca closed out the tourney with a two-round total of 153 (73/80), barely missing the state finals cut. De Luca finished his first round two-above-par (73) and then recorded a round of 80 to settle for a tie in the 15th spot in the field of 67.

Xander Artois was next for the Cougars working for a combined score 158 (79/79), good for a share of 27th place.

Kieran Bye (83/82), Ben Stewart (81/84) and Alexander Moores (83/82) each finished out the tourney with a score of 165. That placed all three in a tie for 52nd.

Grimonpon will represent Canyons at the CCCAA State Championship Tournament being held May 14-15 at the Dragonfly Golf Club in Maderna, CA where the top four teams from each region will compete to be crowned state champions.

Team Scores

1. SADDLE (741-366/375) 2. COD (761-389/372) 3. RCC (770-383/387) 4. CUYAMACA (776-391/385) 5. SBCC (779-386/393) 6. VC (785-386/399) 7. CANYONS (790-389/401) 8. Mt. SAC (793-408/385) 9. OCC (798-395/403) 10. GCC (806-400/406)

Canyons Individual Scores

Paul Grimonpon (151-73/78-13th); Dom De Luca (153-73/80-T-15th); Xander Artois (158-79/79-T-27th); Kieran Bye (165-83/82-T-52nd); Ben Stewart (165-81/84-T-52nd); Alexander Moores (165-83/82-T-52nd)

Field Individual Scores (Top-60)

1 – 140 – Carson Adams – 68/72 (SADDLE)

2 – 142 – Bingcheng Zheng – 73/69 (RCC)

3 – 143 – Ethan Thomas – 72/71 (Mt. SAC)

4 – 145– Kyle Harford – 69/76 (RCC)

5 – 146– Ivan Sablan– 77/69 (COD)

6 – 147– Declan Lane– 72/75 (SADDLE)

7 – 148 – Ryan Gay – 76/72 (SBCC); Eduardo Espinosa – 73/75 (CUYA)

9 – 149 – Denis Watson – 77/72 (SADDLE); Kabir Chadna – 74/75 (CIT)

11 – 150 – Hank Norman – 72/78 (GCC); Caleb Rodriguez 73/77 (SBCC)

13 – 151- Paul Grimonpon – 73/78 (COC)

14 – 152 – Jeremy Kallmann – 79/73 (COD)

15 – 153 – Braden Guerroro – 75/78 (OCC); Dom De Luca – 73/80 (COC); Se Min Song – 77/76 – (COD); Hayato Ito – 76/77 (COD); Trent Fitzgerald – 77/76 (CUYA)

20 – 154 – A.J. Ryland – 75/79 (VC)

21 – 155 – Murphy Scott – 78/77 (SBCC)

22 – 156 – Nathan Long – 79/77 (VC); Clayton Smith – 71/85 – (SADDLE); Vincent Chen – 78/78 (RCC)

25 – 157 – Arthur Hess – 82/75 (SADDLE); Tanner Klundt – 75/82 (AVC)

27 – 158 – Cris Rodriguez – 80/78 (OCC); Zack Garboski – 78/80 (VC); Xander Artois – 79/79 (COC); Kyle Lague – 79/79 (CUYA); Eduardo Maynez – 78/80 (CUYA)

32 – 159 – Kobe Trujillo – 82/77 (Mt. SAC); Aidan Valdez – 78/81 (SADDLE); Alex Mitrovich – 84/75 (CUYA)

35 – 160 – Keefe Pantayatiwon – 85/75 (Mt. SAC); Elijah Delsi – 76/84 (VC); Martin Alvarez – 78/82 (VC)

38 – 161 – Sam Carrillo – 80/81 (OCC); Jonas Slattum – 80/81 (VC); Blaize Rader 83/78 (GCC)

41 – 162 – Brandon Winters – 81/81 (Mt. SAC); Cameron Winslow – 80/82 (COD); Will Oates – 79/83 (CYP)

44 – 163 – Kevin Kienlen – 81/82 (GCC); Caleb Jameson – 80/83 (BCC)

46 – 164 – Zach Iwashita – 78/86 (OCC); Willis Panzarello – 87/77 (COD); Finn Judge – 79/85 (SBCC); Michael Gentry – 80/84 (SBCC); Ryan Osorio – 84/80 (RCC); Daichi Mishisu – 81/83 (CIT)

52 – 165 – Jordan Fahy – 82/83 (OCC); Josh Kim – 81/84 (GCC); Keiran Bye – 83/82 (COC); Ben Stewart – 81/84 (COC); Alexander Moores – 83/82 (COC); Aidan Forrest – 81/84 (RCC)

58 – 166 – Cian Dowling – 90/76 (GCC); Jacob Aaron – 83/83 (SBCC); Nicholas Vila – 84/82 (CUYA)

Stay up to date on all this season’s action by visiting the College of the Canyons Athletic department and following on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.