Four Cougars Finish in Top-10 as Canyons Wins Third Straight WSC Tourney

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director  

BAKERSFIELD — College of the Canyons saw all four scoring players finish in the top-10 of the individual standings including medalist Anthony Nilson as the Cougars won a third straight Western State Conference (WSC) event at Rio Bravo Country Club on Monday.

Canyons (50-2, 21-0) maintained its perfect conference record with a four-player team score of 292, finishing seven strokes ahead of runner-up Santa Barbara City College (299). Ventura College (304) took third in the field of eight schools.

Nilson's season-best round of 69 left him three-under par as the tourney medalist. He is the third different Cougar to bring home medalist honors at a conference event this season.

COC sophomore Ed Beehag finished at 73 in a three-way tie for second place, continuing his streak of finishing in the top-10 for a third straight conference event.

Jacques Struyf and Arnaud Bouhaniche were both part of a four-way tie in ninth place with scores of 75. 

Struyf continues to play well and was recently named the WSC men's golf athlete of the month for February. Bouhaniche was named the college's Jersey Mike's  Student-Athlete of the week for the period running Feb. 23-28.

Nilson's score on Monday moved the sophomore into a tie with Struyf atop the season-long WSC standings. Bouhaniche is currently ranked fourth with Beehag close behind in sixth place after three WSC tournaments.

Kai Willen played in his first WSC event of the season at Rio Bravo and shot a round of 76 to finish in a four-way tie for 13th in the field of 48 players. Despite the positive result, Willen had his score scratched from the final team tally. Carl Magnus Aagren also competed for Canyons but had his round of 84 dropped from team scoring.

The Cougars next compete at the conference event being hosted by Santa Barbara City College on Monday, March 16, at Alisal Ranch Golf Course in Solvang. Tee time is set for 11:30 a.m.

TEAM SCORES
1. Canyons (292) 2. Santa Barbara (299) 3. Ventura (304) 4. Glendale (310) 5. Citrus (311) 6. Bakersfield (318) 7. Antelope Valley (328) 8. Allan Hancock (349)

CANYONS INDIVIDUAL SCORES 
Anthony Nilson (69-medalist); Ed Beehag (73-T2); Arnaud Bouhaniche (75-T9); Jacques Struyf (75-T9); Kai Willen (76-T13); Carl Magnus Aagren (84-T31)

FIELD TOP-35 SCORES
1 - 69 – Anthony Nilson (COC)
T2 - 73 – Ed Beehag (COC); Freddie Carcamo (VC); Andrew Gahshan (CIT)
T5 - 74 – Hugo De Mollerat (SBCC); Aidan Watts (SBCC); Donovan Chappell (VC); Jacob Roldan (BC)
T9 - 75 – Jacques Struyf (COC); Arnaud Bouhaniche (COC); Brayden Mlodzik (SBCC); Kyle Gordon (GCC)
T13 - 76 – Kai Willen (COC); Reynaldo Rodriguez (SBCC); Wyatt Taylor (SBCC); Gavin Loughran (GCC)
T17 - 78 – Stephen Ong (VC); Cameron Vallaro (CIT); Noah Palm (BC)
T20 - 79 – Nathan Schulz (VC); Matthew Jones (VC); Junhao Zhu (GCC); Javier Alvarado (CIT); Jacob Peters (AVC)
T25 - 80 – Liam Husian (GCC); Ethan Aronson (BC); Cody Breuklander (AVC)
T28 - 81 – Max Calli (SBCC); Thomas Holstrom (CIT)
30 - 82 – Bradley Humphrey (VC)
T31 - 84 – Carl Magnus Aagren (COC); Justin Huitink (GCC); Angie Caro (CIT); Eric David (AVC)
35 - 85 – Tayden Ramos (AVC)

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.