Samantha Seiders

Department of Athletics

samantha_seiders@gcccd.edu

February 15, 2018

Yukari Naono, a sophomore out of Ehime, Japan, returns to the G-House this spring to compete as a Griffin.

Naono is the Griffins' first singles badminton state champion. In 2017 she defeated Pasadena City's Sarah Thaw, 21-16, 21-8 to capture the state championship and bring it home from the final match at Mission College. Naono also swept all of her matches in the 2017 season, without losing a single set. In addition, our #1 Griffin boasted a 3.315 overall G.P.A. in 2017. 

Grossmont, a college that never even appeared in a singles or doubles final in the previous 17 years of the sport's championship tournament, scored more hardware with the badminton state doubles title also won by Naono and teammate Rebekah Leslie.

Naono was honored with 2017's All-American Singles and Doubles Team, Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC) Player of the Year and #1 Player and Most Oustanding PCAC Singles Player for 2017.

Head Coach Bill Gillespie comments that "Yukari will be right in the hunt this year and has a great chance of winning the entire tournament again; we are expecting that she will be our leader in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference". Yukari is not only the top singles player from the Southern Region but she is also one half of the best doubles pair in the region.

This year's CCCAA Regional Team Playoff is scheduled or May 2, 2018 and the CCCAA Team and Individual tournament is scheduled for May 10-12, 2018.

For more information on schedules, visit our grossmontgriffins.com website.