Two local schools sent teams to the Northwest Regional high school golf zones two weekends ago in Terrace.
At the end of two days of play, Mount Elizabeth from Kitimat came out the winners of the AA zones, with Smithers Secondary School in second place. Bulkley Valley Christian School finished fourth overall, but as the only single A school still earned a zone win.
Conditions were not ideal in Terrace, and by the end of day one, Kitimat had a 10 stroke lead. Smithers coach Dana Gorbahn said his golfers couldn’t quite find the focus they needed to keep their scores low.
“It was in reach, but as our swings got quick to psychologically counteract the high winds, we got out of sync and executed some poor shots,” he said.
BVCS coach Ron Van Driel said his team also struggled with the conditions in Terrace.
“The boys played well, but the conditions were tough at the Terrace course,” he said. “The greens were lightning fast and that was not what we were used to here in Smithers.”
The top golfer for SSS was Kaleb Gorbahn, who tied for third overall with a combined score of 163. Gorbahn was first overall until the last four holes, when the competition pulled ahead, and he couldn’t quite regain the lead. Nathan Cachia was the second place golfer for SSS, with a score of 167, fifth overall. Bobby Jo Love was third for SSS, shooting 178.
Brayden Taekema was the top golfer with BVCS, shooting 169. He was sixth overall. The second BVCS golfer was Brendan deVries, with 185. Third was Tyler Hofsink, who surprised the team with the second best score for BVCS on day one at 94. Overall he shot 199. Van Driel said unfortunately, due to conflicts the team will be unable to travel to Surrey for Provincials.