BLAINE, Wash. – The UBC Thunderbirds golf teams are hosting the women's and men's Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships from Monday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 1 at Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine.
The NAIA No.1-ranked T-Birds womens team enters the tournament as the three-time defending champions and having won all three other CCC events this season. In fact, the 'Birds have won every single conference tournament that they have entered since joining the CCC in the 2018-19 season.
The NAIA No.7-ranked men's team has also enjoyed a perfect in-conference season, and they too will be looking to keep retain their title as kings of the of the CCC after taking each of the three championships they have competed in since joining the conference (two were missed due to the pandemic and resulting border restrictions).
"We're excited to be hosting!" said an enthused
Chris MacDonald, now in his 23
rd season as UBC's head golf coach. "The players are also really excited to be playing close to home. Obviously we're not playing in Vancouver, but to be just barely across the border means we'll have some more family and friends there. To play on such a beautiful championship golf course is also a treat. We're just ready to go!"
Operated by Semiahmoo Resort until it was purchased by the Lummi Nation in 2018, on whose traditional and ancestral territory the course sits, Loomis Trail is located just outside of Blaine. It will be playing as a roughly 5800 yard course for the women and at around 6700 yards for the men, with daily adjustments changing the yardage slightly for each round, always at par-72. There have been some hole modifications specifically for the tournament, and it's expected present a greater challenge than most CCC events.
"One thing you'll notice immediately is that it has large trees and it's narrow," explained MacDonald, the reigning NAIA Men's and Women's Golf Coach of the Year. "There's not a lot of trickery to it, what you see is what you get. It's long, it's narrow, it's got small greens. There's a lot of water and a ton of penalty areas, just a lot of hazards out there."
"You're going to have to play well, especially on your approach shots, you've got to be on the correct side of the flag. If you do that there's a good chance to make pars and the occasional birdie, but it's not a course where the teams are going to go very low with their scoring. Even par is a terrific score there and that's what teams should be focused on."
The T-Birds women's team may be in need of the challenge that Loomis will provide as they have proven to be utterly dominant throughout the season. The team has won every event it has entered handily, save for some out of conference competitions comprising of some of the biggest NCAA Division I schools in the west, who the 'Birds have shown they can compete with.
Balance has become a hallmark of this group as well, as five different T-Birds have won individual titles in the team's five tournament victories this season.
Elizabeth Labbe is the most recent individual champion, holing out a 90-yard eagle to leapfrog teammate
Grace Bell and snatch medalist honours at the Warrior Invitational in
dramatic fashion.
"I think the success on the women's team speaks to all nine of our players, the job they've done, everyone's been a part of it," mused MacDonald. "When qualifying gets really tough it pushes our best players to be better and improve our skills every week, that's what's happened again this year."
The UBC men's team has enjoyed almost as much success, but it's come in a different form. While the team has not been as consistently dominant as the women, they have shown an equally impressive ability to come up clutch and pull out final round victories. Most notably, a third round comeback victory at the RMC Intercollegiate capped by the
playoff hole heroics of captain
Mackenzie Bickell and turning the tables on host Lewis-Clark State in their most recent tournament by flipping a final round deficit in to a double digit victory to give the team wins in all three CCC events leading up to the Championships.
"At our practices we've been talking about improving every day and finding new skills," commented MacDonald. "I think that all year we've been improving and now we're getting healthier again too, I'm excited about our men's opportunity at this event. We'll get
Manu Gandhi back in the lineup, get
John Paul Kahlert back in the lineup and we'll see how we do. But I feel like the guys are going to be very excited about playing at Loomis Trail."
The winners of each side of the event will be crowned conference champions and receive an automatic berth in the NAIA national championships May 21-24. The UBC women have won the last three NAIA championships that they have competed in and seven overall. The UBC men are also the defending NAIA champions, their second national title.
All of this week's action at Loomis Trail will be scored live. Find the live and up to date women's results
here and the men's results
here.
