Tigers Claim First State Championship on their Home Course

RIVERSIDE -- The Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's golf team won the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Championship at Victoria CC last Monday (May 12) for its first state crown.

In winning its first men's golf state title, Riverside also became only the third team in the 65-year history of the event to win the state crown in its home city. Saddleback (1994) and Bakersfield (1979) also turned the trick.

Riverside and the College of the Canyons (COC) Cougars each shot a collective 734, but the tie was broken when it came down to the sixth golfer on each team and Riverside's Chad Hambright carded a 78 in the afternoon round while Canyon's Mike Stewart finished with a 79.

The Chabot College Gladiators of Hayward were close behind (744), followed by the San Jose City College (SJCC) Jaguars at 750.

Riverside qualified for the four-team state tournament, thanks to a second-place finish in the Southern California Regional Tournament the previous Monday (May 5).

Canyons led after the morning round with a team score of 365, while Riverside posted a 368, with San Jose City close at (370) and Chabot (372) close behind.  But Riverside's Eric Cross and Josh Roquet both shot 1-under-par 71s in the afternoon to lead the Tigers back into a tie with Canyons with 36-hole team totals of 734. 

The individual medalist honors went to COC's Sidney Wolf, who shot rounds of 71 and 68 for a 5-under-par score of 139.  He was awarded all-state honors along with Greg Robarge (Ventura) with a 141, Johnny Greco (San Jose) with a 142, Marc Reyes (Orange Coast) with a 143, and both Evin Davis of Glendale (70, 74) and Eric Cross of Riverside (73, 71) with even-par 144s.

Zach Eddy of Orange Coast had one of the biggest highlights of the day when he scored a hole-in-one on the 136-yard, par-3 during the morning round when he posted a 74.

Leading the Tigers were Eric Cross at 144 (73, 71) for sixth place, Josh Roquet at 145 (74, 71) for seventh place, Wes Hatton at 146 (70, 76) for ninth place, Clay Hjulberg (74, 75) at 149 for 18th place, Chad Hambright at 154 (76, 78) for 35th place and John Swierczek at 154 (80, 74) for 36th place.

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Attached is a photo of the SoCal Regional Runner-up Tigers, taken after the competition at StoneRidge CC in Poway, courtesy of Palomar College Athletics.

Special thanks to Jerry Hannula, Saddleback SID, for his assistance in compiling the initial information for the CCCAA Men's Golf Championships.

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