Trojan men lead the way at South Regional

CALGARY, ALTA., (Sept. 21, 2019) - Home course advantage was just that for SAIT Trojans men's golf team on Saturday.

When all was said and done with Day 1 of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) South Regional Golf Tournament, the host Trojans used their knowledge of Valley Ridge Golf Club to sit on top of the men's team standings.

 "The message has not, and will not, change - hard work and preparation has got us to where finished today," said Trojans head coach, Stephen Yanitski. "We're not going to let up. The boys were, once again, 1-through-5 deep and had each other's backs the whole day. We stumbled a bit at the end, but hopefully Sunday we can keep it together for an entire 18 holes."

The SAIT Trojans Athletic Department brought back their golf team last season after a near 20 years absence - the last year of competition for them being 2001. In turn, they have not hosted a tournament in that long as well. On what turned out to be a gorgeous fall day, Valley Ridge proved to be a great location for the ACAC's return to Calgary.

"Valley Ridge is such a great tournament host," said Yanitski, who might be a little biased considering he is an assistant pro at the course. "The golf course itself has so many features and variations to it from one hole to the next. It's a really good true test of golf."

SAIT leads the men's team standings at a combined 10-over par, while the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings sit in second at 16-over. Medicine Hat College rounds out the top three at 22-over.

This is the second-straight event in which the men's team has led an event after Day 1. Last weekend in Edmonton, the men's team turned that Day 1 lead into a first place finish at the ACAC North Regional, hosted by MacEwan University at RedTail Landing Golf Club.

Leading the charge for SAIT on Saturday was Cole Keebler (2nd year, Calgary, Business Administration). He fired an even par 72 to sit tied for the lead with Augustana's Michael Harrison.

Keebler sat at 3-over through the first three holes, but rebounded nicely with an eagle on the Par 5 eighth hole and a birdie on the ninth. He added two more birdies on the back, but bogeyed his last hole of the day to cost him the day's only under par round.

Teammate Jared Wylie (1st year, Tumbler Ridge, BC, EMT - Paramedic) fired a 2-over 74 to sit in a tie for third, while Dakota Smith (2nd year, Edmonton, Alta., Bachelor of Business Administration) and Matthew Cook (1st year, Airdrie, Alta., Business Administration) each shot a 4-over 76 to sit in a four-way tie for eighth.

On the women's side of things, home course advantage did not find its way into their golf bags just one week after tying for second at the North Regional.

The duo of Tashel Scantlebury (5th year, Foxwarren, Man., Community Economic Development), Carey McLean (1st year, Deer Valley, Sask., Travel and Tourism) sit in fourth place at a combined 47-over par - 22 shots back of third place MacEwan University. Scantlebury edged McLean by just one shot with her team-best score of 95.

Karmen Mooney (5th year, Squamish, BC, Construction Project Management) fell out of the top-2 that count for the women's team with a tough 110.

"By the numbers, it was definitely not what they wanted today," stated Yanitski. "In following them at times, there were some bad breaks, but there are positives to draw on. Off the tee, each of them were solid. It was the scoring wedges and course management from the middle of the fairways that made things difficult for them. That said, each of them are in a great head space to improve on those numbers tomorrow."