Canyons Tees Up Yet Another Golf Title

They might as well not play the rest of the Western State Conference men’s golf season.

As has happened nearly every year for a decade, College of the Canyons has safely stashed another conference championship in the bag.

The Cougars are 45-0 in the conference after winning the WSC match at Sandpiper Golf Course in Goleta on Monday, making the remaining two matches pointless.

“This is the deepest team I’ve ever had,” said Coach Gary Peterson, in his 17th season with the Cougars. “We’ve had a different medalist at every tournament, although some kids have repeated.”

Canyons, 54-2 overall, is left to use the WSC matches as tuneups for the Southern California Regional at Rio Bravo Country Club in Bakersfield on May 1 and the state championships at Glendora Country Club a week later.

“I really think we have a chance at [winning] state this year,” Peterson said.

Peterson guided the Cougars to the state title in 1993 and to WSC championships in 1990-93, 95-96 and the last three seasons.

Canyons finished second to Bakersfield in 1994 and to Santa Barbara in 1997.

The Cougars average age is 22, giving Peterson a host of players who are not only talented, but mature.

Leading the charge are redshirt freshman Mike Applegate, sophomore Travis Matye and redshirt freshman Matias Gil from Argentina, the top players in the WSC. Applegate is averaging 73.1, Matye 73.8 and Gil 73.9.

Pat Kelly, a sophomore from Canada, is averaging 74.6 and Mike Scott, a sophomore from Alemany, is averaging 74.8.

Applegate shot a six-under par 30 on the front nine and finished with a 69 to win at Sandpiper on Monday.

But Applegate and some of his most talented teammates might not return next season.

“We’re potentially going to lose five of these guys,” Peterson said. “They want to move on to four-year schools.”

Don’t shed any tears for the Cougars, though. Peterson has 20 players redshirting.

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Shortstop Kevin O’Hara has been a bright spot in a trying season for Valley.

The sophomore from Chatsworth High is batting .386 in Western State Conference play and filling credibly at a position where the Monarchs desperately needed help.

“He’s a very intelligent player and gets every inch out of his ability,” Coach Chris Johnson said.

Johnson moved O’Hara from second base out of necessity. The Monarchs were set--or so they believed--at shortstop going into the season with Yuki Sano, who played at Montclair Prep.

But Sano returned to Japan for personal reasons after the winter break and his replacement, freshman Jeremy Cartee from Burroughs, didn’t work out.

Enter O’Hara, who last season batted .337 with 18 runs batted in while playing third base, second base and shortstop.

“He’s a little fiery,” Johnson said. “He and I have gone around a little bit, but nothing serious. . . . He’s a very tough kid mentally.”

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Despite an out-of-commission pool that has the team swimming “all over the county,” as Coach Larry Baratte said, the Ventura women are 7-0 in WSC dual meets and pulling closer to their second consecutive conference title.

“We really haven’t been challenged that much,” Baratte said.

Rebecca Gilman, a transfer from USC who played at Buena High, has a junior college national best of 17:40.17 in the 1,650 yards.

Brianne Fowler, an All-American in water polo and swimming, has the fifth-best times in the state in the 100 freestyle at 55.34 and 200 freestyle at 2:00.84.

“[Fowler] only swam one year at Buena,” Baratte said. “She’s made such remarkable improvement.”

Ventura has won 22 consecutive WSC dual meets.

The men are 6-1 and in a three-way tie for first place with Cuesta and Santa Monica after a 57-56 loss to Santa Monica last week.

“We had one of those days,” Baratte said. “They swam very well and we swam very poorly.”

Sprinter Ryan Fisher, All-American middle-distance freestyler and backstroker Vern Moen from Ventura High and distance freestyler Kyle Power from Newbury Park lead the Pirates.

Ventura is hosting the WSC championships April 27-29 at Oxnard High, which the Pirates have used along with Hueneme High for training since pipes broke in Ventura’s pool. The repairs won’t be finished until June.

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Shutouts are rare in the WSC, making Jack Cassel’s four-hit, 9-0 gem for Pierce against Canyons on Tuesday even more impressive.

The sophomore right-hander from Kennedy by way of Loyola Marymount pitched the first solo shutout in the WSC this season.

Jeff Roberts of Ventura, who worked 8 1/3 innings, and Ryan Baker beat Valley, 8-0, on March 7 and Phillip Dumatrait and Lance Stevens of Bakersfield stopped Cuesta, 10-0, the same day.

Cassel struck out seven against a club batting .343, third in the WSC.

“That’s going to open some eyes,” Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano said.