In leading up to the official start of the 2019-20 athletics campaign at Irvine Valley, which starts on Aug. 27 with the IVC men's soccer team hosting Rio Hondo and the Laser women's soccer team playing at San Diego Mesa, the Irvine Valley athletic department will count down the top 10 sports stories from the 2018-19 school year.
The No. 9 story on the list is freshman women's golfer Katie Stribling finishing second in the Orange Empire Conference in scoring and then placing fourth at the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship last November at Morro Bay. She had a 4 over par 148 after the two-day event.
Irvine Valley women's golfer Katie Stribling finished her freshman year at Irvine Valley on a very strong note.
She ended up fourth last November at the California Community College Athletic Association Women's Golf State Championship at Morro Bay.
Stribling finished with scores of 74 in each round of the two-day tournament. She had a 4 over par 148 after the two-day event.
She had three birdies to finish with that 74 on Monday.
It is the best finish for an Irvine Valley women's golfer since IVC's Leleaga Meredith won the state title with a two-round total of 147 at Morro Bay in 2014.
IVC freshman Kylie Song placed fifth in last year's tournament, Laser freshman Araceli Esquivel finished sixth at the state tournament in 2016 and IVC sophomore Hyerin Kim was sixth in 2015 for IVC.
Fullerton's Eunsoo Jeon earned the state championship this year with a two-day score of 142 (69-73). Jeon was 11th at the state event last season.
Haruka Coda helped lead College of the Canyons to a state team title and she finished second individually at 143.
Stribling also made a run for the top spot at the Orange Empire Conference Championships, but came up just short.
Stribling trailed Fullerton's Jeon by three strokes heading into the OEC event and moved within a shot after the first round at Los Serranos in Chino Hills.
But Stribling couldn't catch Jeon in the final round at Los Serranos.
Jeon finished as the conference champion with a two-round score of 150 (78, 72).
Stribling ended up taking third (76, 84) overall at the conference event with a score of 160. She finished behind Jeon and Saddleback's Brittney Do, who shot a two-day score of 156.
Stribling still ended up second in the final individual player scoring for the conference with an average of 75.7.
Saddleback College took the team title with a score of 688.
Stribling still earned all-conference and all-state honors on the year.