The red marker came out for the first time this season as College of the Desert's Fumika Matsumoto carded a 1-under-par 71 on the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club course in Mission Viejo to lead the Roadrunners to a team score of 313 and another Orange Empire Conference victory in women's golf on Wednesday (October 15).
Matsumoto's 71 was followed by teammates Chantelle McCarthy (78) and Sam Stewart (79) as the only three golfers in the field of 43 to break 80 under favorable conditions on the golf course. Brooke Raney rounded out Desert's team scoring with an 85.
A shake-up happened in the team scoring when Irvine Valley - which had finished second in four previous events - fell to fifth with a team score of 356 despite an 82 by Leleaga Meredith and an 83 from Rebecca Peng. Fullerton wsa able to post a team score of 339 to finish second on the afternoon as Jesse Giese carded an 80 while Kacy Kaichi posted an 83 and Tiffany Kohyama added an 86. Mt. San Antonio (340) was able to finish third, just one stroke behind Fullerton. Sarah Juelch (80), Jihyun Park (81), and Maddy Santana (83) helped to pace the Mounties. Palomar (353) would end up in fourth place, just three strokes ahead of Irvine Valley. Brittany Bilek carded an 85 as the best score for the Comets on the day.
Event host Saddleback finished in sixth place (364) just one shot ahead of Orange Coast (365) while Cuyamaca (381) placed eighth. Rina Tomihari posted an 87 for Saddleback while Alexa Barnes led Orange Coast with an 85 and Daniella Fairbank posted an 88 for Cuyamaca.
Matsumoto (pictured), who leads the conference in individual scoring with a 75.4 average, has been the event medalist in four of the seven conference events this season. The 71 was her best score of the season, improving on a pair of 75s to open the season. The previous best score in the conference was Stewart's 1-over-par 74 on the Diamond Bar course during the September 24 match. Comparatively, there were five sub-par rounds posted during conference play last season.
Desert leads the conference with 56 wins while Irvine Valley still holds onto second place with 43 wins but Fullerton (42) is just one win behind the Lasers. Mt. San Antonio (32 wins) and Palomar (31 wins) are in a battle for the fourth position while Saddleback (26 wins) is not far behind. It is believed that the top four teams in the conference standings will advance to post-season play.
OEC competition continues on Monday, October 20, when first-year program Orange Coast College hosts a conference event at the Costa Mesa Country Club's Mesa Linda course.