IONE – Reedley College used a strong first round and then held off a second-round charge by Fresno City as the Tigers posted a six-shot win at the CCCAA Northern California Regional Championship this week at Castle Oaks Golf Course in Ione.

Reedley's Chase Bird and Elias Petterson each shot scores of 1-over 143 over the tournament's 36 holes to tie for second place, just a shot behind medalist Markus Nanpei of Napa Valley, who put together rounds of 68 and 74. The Tigers had six players in the top 15 places to help them to the regional title. Reedley posted a team score of 17-over 727 while Fresno City (733), Napa Valley (743) and Sierra (748) rounded out the four qualifiers for next week's state championship at Dragonfly Golf Club inMadera. San Joaquin Delta (800), San Jose City (805), Modesto (810) and Taft (930) placed fifth through eighth, respectively.

Reedley jumped to its first-round lead behind rounds of 71 from Bird and 72 from Petterson. They traded those scores in the second round. Preston Harris added a 70 and Jack Peters contributed a 73 to help. Fresno City, though, battled back in the second round with a 5-over 360 team score - the tournament's best - to cut into the Tigers' lead. The Rams, who were paced by Josh Watkin's 1-under 70 in the second round, didn't have a countable score higher than 73 in the round. Nick Shultz helped highlight the effort with a 72.

Shultz (144) and Giuseppe Aliotti (146) were fourth and tied for fifth, respectively, while Dylan Meskowsky of Sierra also tied for fifth. Sierra's Patrick Dumag, whose 69 in the second round was best among all players, tied for seventh with Watkins at 5 over.

The Tigers now move on to the CCCAA State Championship tournament which will be held at Dragonfly Golf Club in Madera. It is scheduled for Sunday & Monday, May 14-15.

Story courtesy CCCAA