BOBCATS RE-CAPTURE OEC TITLE

CHINO HILLS – The Saddleback College men's golf team wrapped up a perfect 2023 Orange Empire Conference campaign with another dominating performance at the OEC Men's Golf Championships on Monday at Los Serranos Golf Club.

The Bobcats wrapped up a 56-0 record against their OEC competition by running the tables during Monday's 36-hole championship. After starting the day with a team score of 2-under-par 368 on the South Course, Saddleback continued its fine play with a 1-under-par 359 team score on the North Course.

Close behind was the College of the Desert, who pushed the Bobcats throughout Monday's championship. The Roadrunners fired a 362 on the North Course and a 383 on the South Course to finish second overall.

In all, six teams qualified for the upcoming Southern California Regional Championships, which are set for Monday, May 8 at Industry Hills Golf Club, including Saddleback (56-0), Desert (30-6), Riverside (27-9), Cuyamaca (25-11), Orange Coast (18-18) and Mt. San Antonio (17-19).

The OEC Golfer of the Year was COD's Ivan Sablan, who's season average of 73.0 was tops among all conference competitors, just ahead of Saddleback's Arthur Hess (73.1), Riverside's Bingcheng Zheng (73.3) and Desert's Willis Panzarello (73.5).

Joining the six teams at the SoCal Regionals will be Cypress College's Berkecem Renda, who earned a spot as the top individual golfer not on a non-qualifier team.

ALL-ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERFENCE

Ivan Sablan (Desert) – 73.0

Arthur Hess (Saddleback) – 73.1

Bingcheng Zheng (Riverside) – 73.3

Willis Panzarello (Desert) – 73.5

Declan Lane (Saddleback) – 73.8

Aidan Valdez (Saddleback) – 73.8

Clayton Smith (Saddleback) – 73.9

Trent Fitzgerald (Cuyamaca) – 75.0

Jack Shipton (Saddleback) – 75.0

Denis Watson (Saddleback) – 75.1

Kyle Lague (Cuyamaca) – 75.3

Kyle Harford (Riverside) – 75.4

Release by Tony Altobelli, OCC SID