SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The defending men's and women's Cascade Collegiate Conference Champion UBC Thunderbirds started their 2024-25 campaign right where they left off, winning both sides of the Bushnell Fall Invitational; the first of four CCC events this season.
The men's team (864, E) never appeared threatened, finishing 12 or more strokes ahead of the field in each of the tournament's first two rounds before ultimately finishing with a 30-shot win over second place Lewis-Clark State (894, +30) on Tuesday. The women (603, +27) had to find their championship form down the stretch to ensure victory over a much-improved team from Oregon Tech (617, +41). The Owls tied the T-Birds for the lead midway through the final round, before settling for second after the veteran UBC group locked in and pulled away in the last few holes of the event.
The victories build on perfect 2023-24 CCC season for both T-Birds teams, as they each finished first in all four events last year, including the conference championship. The women's team has won every conference tournament since joining in 2019, and the last time the men did not win a CCC event was the spring of 2022, when they finished in second.
Individually,
Aidan Schumer (211, -5) earned medalist honours on the men's side, edging out teammate
Dylan MacDonald (212, -4) by a stroke for his second career victory as a T-Bird.
Mackenzie Bickell and
John Paul Kahlert (222, +6) were tied for fifth and
Hudson LaFayette (225, +9) tied for eighth, putting all five UBC golfers within the top-10 of the 45-player field.
On the women's side,
Jessica Ng (148, +4) had a dazzling final round of 70 (-2) on Tuesday to propel her in to individual runner-up, tops among the team. Just behind her was
Grace Bell (149, +5) in a tie for third, followed closely by
Bo Brown (150, +6) alone in fifth and
Elizabeth Labbe (158, +14) alone in eighth. Sophmore
Coco Pei also more than held her own in her second ever event as a T-Bird, firing a 163 (+19) to end up in a tie for 13
th.
The men will have a chance to build on their momentum, but against significantly steeper competition, when they play in the brand new Canadian Collegiate Invitational in less than a week. The event takes place Sunday, September 15 to Tuesday, September 17 at the Öviinbyrd Golf Club in Ontario's Muskoka region. Despite the name, the T-Birds will be the only Canadian team there, as the tournament is being co-hosted by Golf Canada and the Canadian coaches at NCAA DI schools Kent State and Penn State. The 'Birds received an invite as the defending Golf Canada Canadian University/College Champions, but the rest of the field will be entirely NCAA DI teams.
The women will also be competing against NCAA schools in their next event, as they stay close to home to play in Simon Fraser University's True North Classic September 23-24. That tournament is expected to comprise of mostly DII schools, with some other BC universities likely to receive an invite as well. It's being played at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby.
