Kitabatake Wins SoCal Regional Championship, Cougars Advance to State Tourney

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

VENTURA — Sahya Kitabatake won the 3C2A Individual Championship as College of the Canyons placed third in the team standings at the Southern California Regional Championships played at Olivas Links, while advancing to the upcoming state championship tournament.

Kitabatake, the defending 3C2A Individual Champion from a season ago, finished the two-day regional championships with a 36-hole score of 145 (73/72) to finish the event one shot over par.

The sophomore from Kobe, Japan had previously won the Western State Conference (WSC) Individual Championship in October to earn Player of the Year honors.

Kitabatake's score was eight shots better than runner-up Kaitlyn Wong of Mt. San Antonio College (153-76/77).

COC freshman Sofia Allard placed seventh in the field of 54 players with a strong performance that saw her shave three strokes off her opening-round score. Allard finished at 159 (81/78) to help Canyons punch its ticket to the state championship tournament.

Freshman Alex Downing finished 20th with a score of 180 (90/90) after carding a pair of balanced rounds. Baily Fara Lieberman at 192 (96/96) did the same to place 31st and round out the Canyons team scoring.

Valerie Sherman in 43rd (219-112/107) and Zoe Keigley (235-119/116) in 45th both had their individual scores scratched from the final COC team total.

Orange Coast College (638 - 323/315) won the 3C2A Southern California Regional championship followed by Mt. SAC (647- 327/320) in the runner-up position ahead of third place Canyons (676 - 340/336). Santa Barbara City College was fourth (699 - 362/337) and Allan Hancock College was fifth (723 - 358/365) in the field of eight schools.

The 2025 3C2A State Championship tournament will be played Nov. 17-18, at Alisal River Ranch in Solvang.

The tourney field will be comprised of nine teams, with the top four from the North region advancing to compete alongside five schools from the South. 

Orange Coast, Mt. SAC, Canyons, Santa Barbara and Allan Hancock will be representing the Southern region. The 3C2A Northern Regional champion Reedley College will be joined by Modesto College, Napa Valley College and Sierra College at the state tournament.

Action gets underway at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday and continues at 7:45 a.m. on Monday.

Canyons is returning to the state championship event for the first time since 2023 and will be making its 13th overall appearance at the state tourney in program history. 

The Cougars boast five team state titles in their women's golf program history (2001, 2007, 2018, 2019, 2023) and four individual state championships (Jenny Lee/2007; Kristin Grimes/2011; Haruka Koda/2019; Kitabatake/2024).

TEAM SCORES
1. Orange Coast (638 - 323/315) 2. Mt. SAC (647- 327/320) 3. Canyons (676 - 340/336) 4. Santa Barbara City (699 - 362/337) 5. Allan Hancock (723 - 358/365) 6. Moorpark (735 -369/366) 7. Bakersfield (757 - 381/376) 8. Citrus (994 – 514/480)

CANYONS INDIVIDUAL SCORES
Sahya Kitabatake (145-73/72- 3C2A SoCal Champion); Sofia Allard (159-81/78-7th); Alex Downing (180-90/90-20th); Baily Fara Lieberman (192-96/96-31st); Valerie Sherman (219-112/107-43rd); Zoe Keigley (235-119/116-45th)

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.