It’s said that the only thing harder than winning a championship is defending it, and by that standard, what the University of the Fraser Valley golf teams accomplished on Sunday was extremely impressive.
At the conclusion of the final tournament of the PacWest conference golf season – hosted by UBC Okanagan in Kelowna – the Cascades men’s and women’s teams both found themselves atop the cumulative rankings.
It’s the second straight year that both UFV teams have won provincial gold, and the men’s streak of PacWest titles is now at three seasons and counting.
“It means a lot, because it seems to get harder and harder every year,” enthused UFV golf coach Chris Bertram. “The competition in our conference is so good, but we keep getting better every year and we fight tooth and nail to get it done. It’s a credit to our players, both on the men’s and women’s side.”
The Cascades women claimed their conference crown in style, winning the final tournament at Okanagan Golf Club. They combined for a score of 327 over the two-round event, out-distancing the host UBC-O Heat (338) and the Vancouver Island University Mariners (393).
That left the UFV women at 1,293 combined strokes over the four-tourney season, 26 ahead of the second-place Heat (1,319).
Jen Woods carded matching rounds of 79 to win the individual competition at the UBC-O event, which enabled her to also lock up the overall individual title. Her cumulative total of 642 strokes was 10 better than UBC-O’s Carolyn Lee. Woods’s UFV teammates Kelley Dalzell (660) and Natasha MacKenzie (675) finished third and fourth overall, respectively.
“It speaks to her consistency and hard work, and it’s great to see her peaking at the end of the year,” Bertram said of Woods.
The Cascades men finished third at the UBC-O tournament, combining for a score of 603 to finish behind the host Heat (580) and the Camosun Chargers (595). But that steady performance was more than enough to win – the UFV men held a 21-stroke lead on Camosun going into the finale, and they ended up winning the overall title by 13 strokes (2,381 to 2,394). Aaron Pauls was the top Cascade on the weekend, finishing tied for sixth overall after carding rounds of 75 and 74.
VIU’s Matt Haddad won the overall individual championship with a total score of 580, but UFV showed its depth by placing three players in the top five. Connor O’Dell (586) was second, Zach Olson (588) was third, and Pauls took fifth (590).
Up next for the Cascades golf teams are the PING CCAA Golf National Championships, which run Oct. 14-17 in Quebec City. UFV is the defending champion on both the men’s and women’s sides.
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