Last weekend the Smithers secondary school Gryphons golf team travelled to the Skeena Valley Golf Course to tee off against Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth secondary school Eagles for the coveted Northwest Zone crown.
On the first day, the Gryphons came out with a stellar effort, taking a 20-shot lead over their western rivals.
Kaleb Gorbahn, recently decided to remove the cast from a thumb broken three weeks earlier to participate in the event. Rookie Riley Coish provided a solid round to stoke the Gryphons to a big lead.
“Riley played excellent the first day. Even with the tough weather he scored an 85,” head coach Dana Gorbahn said.
Despite the praise from his coach, Coish attributed his success to his putter, admitting, “the putter was working.”
“The course played against us this weekend,” Nathan Cachia, the veteran of the team, said of the weather conditions.
“There were tough scoring conditions due to strong gusting winds the first day and the quick green conditions with tucked pins led to difficult putts.”
Despite the deteriorating weather, Cachia played well on the second day with a solid 84.
“I still feel like I struggled and couldn’t make any putts,” he said.
“If the putts had rolled in, it would have been a different story. I have to give my mom so much credit. She shared her thoughts on my swing last night and they were really helpful.”
Coish started the second day with a lot of difficulty but shook it off after the ninth hole, saving the round with a 40 on the back.
Second-year player Skyler Stahel, struggled the whole weekend. As if the weather wasn’t enough, he re-injured his knee. “I just couldn’t get my head into this one,” Stahel said. After re-injuring his knee, which caused him disconcert through the round, Stahel continued to play a supporting role for the Gryphons with an aggregate score of 190.
“If my knee was healthy I know I would’ve played better,” said Stahel.
In the end, Smithers won the zone championships with a 21-stroke lead over Mount Elizabeth’s aggregate team score of 703.
Smithers secondary scored an aggregate of 682.
“It feels nice to finally win zones,” said Gorbahn. “I’m proud of my boys. They all played great given the difficulties they endured.
“They could’ve played better, but overall, great weekend. I look forward to the next couple of years with these guys.”
Kaleb Gorbahn lead the Gryphons with an aggregate of 155 over Mount Elizabeth’s top golfer, Dylan Kerbrat who was a northern men’s finalist with an aggregate of 158.