NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY Kent Lesko hits a putt during Medicine Hat Rattlers practice at Desert Blume Golf Club Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019.
When Kent Lesko decided to go back to school, he had no idea Medicine Hat College had a golf team.
Now, the 35-year-old has a second appearance at nationals in his sights.
“My goal was to try out, see what happens,” said Lesko, whose Rattlers men’s team enters conference championships this weekend needing a top-two spot to advance to nationals in Quebec. “I knew I had enough ability to maybe squeak on. Now I’m a vet, it’s fun to see these guys.
“I worked extremely hard on my game (this summer). I improved my scores a lot.”
Lesko worked as a tradesman when he was younger but decided to try something different. He’s finishing up his fourth year of a business degree – a third year of college golf is a bonus he never expected.
“Golf for me is a lifelong sport,” he said. “It’s one of those things you can always get better at it. It’s not just about competing now in these tournaments, it’s about moving forward afterwards.
“I want to keep on improving at it.”
Along with 30-year-old Derek Whitson, Lesko is known as the father-figure of the Rattlers. Both men have enjoyed competing alongside athletes far younger than themselves, but their goal is the same: Win.
“They definitely rip on (Lesko) more than me, they call him dad for a reason,” said Whitson, a former Paralympian in both soccer and sledge hockey. “It’s been good, we definitely feel like we have a lot of experience in life.
“It’s nice having the young ones around because they keep us young too.”
When the college season started, Whitson figured the men’s team had a great shot at nationals, having played in it as hosts last year. They added two ex-Red Deer players (Chase Broderson and Logan Crawford) and two excellent rookie talents (Caleb Kinch and Mathieu Chapdelaine), plus had Brady Resch back for a second year.
But the re-emergence of SAIT, which has won both men’s team events so far, and strong outings from Augustana and MacEwan mean the Rattlers will have to be on their A game at Coal Creek Golf Course east of Camrose this weekend.
Medicine Hat finished third and fourth but only the top two at conference finals will advance. They were four shots back of second place at the North Regional and 16 back at last weekend’s South Regional.
“We definitely can play our way in there,” said Lesko. “It’s going to be close but I believe in these guys. I think they can pull it off.”
As for the women’s team, Ciara Bonogofski is confident that teammates Sierra Zukowski and Nicole Schultz can remain consistent and qualify the team for a fifth straight trip to the Canadian finals.
The trio was there together two years ago in Ontario, won silver on their home course last year and has finished second and first in the two conference tournaments leading up to this weekend.
A similar result will give them one more tournament together.
“It feels good being able to play with Sierra and Nicole all these years, it adds on to the confidence even more just having them continuous as teammates,” said fifth-year player Bonogofski, whose scores are unlikely to count towards the team total, as Zukowski and Schultz routinely shoot 20 shots better per round. “Going into my fifth and final year, I’m done eligibility after this, it’s bittersweet.”
