Women's Golf: College of the Desert Out in Front Early

The Orange Empire Conference women's golf schedule is in full swing now with two of the 10 scheduled conference events in the books and it looks like College of the Desert will be the team to beat as nine colleges vie for the conference title.

Desert hosted the first event on September 3 at Woodhaven Country Club and took advantage of the home course by posting a four-person team score of 316.  Irvine Valley was second at 333 while Mt. San Antonio finished third at 346.  Two Desert golfers – Samantha Stewart and Fumika Matsumoto – shared medalist honors with matching 3-over-par 75s to pace the Roadrunners.  Irvine Valley College sophomore Leleaga Meredith carded a 76.

Mt. San Jacinto hosted the second event on September 10 at the Country Club at Soboba Springs where College of the Desert captured the team title with a score of 320.  Irvine Valley again finished second at 358 while Fullerton College was a shot behind at 359.  Matsumoto was the medalist again, posting another 3-over-par round of 75.  Saddleback College sophomore Rina Tomihari was second overall with a 77 while Desert sophomore Brooke Raney and Fullerton sophomore Kacy Kaichi each carded 79s.

Matsumoto  sits atop the individual leader board with a 75.0 stroke average while Tomihari averages 78.5, Stewart averages 79.0, and Meredith averages 79.5.

The conference schedule continues on Wednesday, September 17, as Irvine Valley will host all teams on the Oak Creek Golf Club course.