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Members of the Medicine Hat College Rattlers golf teams pose at the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference championship Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019 at Coal Creek Golf Course. The men's team won the champiosnhip while the women's team placed second. Both will move on to nationals in Quebec from Oct. 14-18.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Rattlers men’s and women’s golf teams punched their ticket to nationals on Sunday at Coal Creek Golf Course.
The men held on to claim the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference championship with a 12-stroke edge on runner-up MacEwan University, while the women finished second behind Concordia to join their male counterparts at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association stage in Quebec next month.
“It’s really awesome to win as a team,” said Chase Broderson, who finished third in the men’s individual event. “We knew we had it in us to make it and we all played really well this week, so it’s awesome to get to.”
Broderson, Caleb Kinch, Derek Whitson, Mathieu Chapdelaine and Brady Resch combined for a 305-304-306-915 over the three-day event to secure their place atop the podium.
On the women’s side it was Nicole Schultz and Sierra Zukowski teaming up to take second with a 185-169-175–529, two strokes ahead of SAIT.
“We were 11 shots back going into (Sunday) so we knew we had quite a bit of ground to make up but we also knew it was going to be tough today so anything could happen,” said Zukowski. “I think we just kind of stuck to our game plans and kind of trusted that if we played our games then we’d be fine. I know I didn’t have my best day out there (Sunday) but it ended up being enough with how tough it was out there.”
Broderson led the squad with a 73-73-78-224. While he struggled in Sunday’s conditions, Broderson did enough to finish on the podium in the men’s individual event behind MacEwan’s Justin Bergen (71-70-73-214) and Augustana’s Michael Harrison (73-77-73-223).
“It was really tough. I don’t know if it got above three degrees the whole time,” said Broderson. “The wind was blowing (Sunday) so it was definitely a grind and we all showed we have what it takes.”
Kinch closed out his weekend in a tie for fifth with MacEwan’s Stephen Christenson, shooting a 77-75-77-229.
Resch started slow but rebounded Sunday with a 2-under 70 to finish ninth at 79-81-70-234. While his final round pushed him in front of teammates Whitson and Chapdelaine, only his Sunday 70 counted in the team event, which combines the squad’s top four scores each day.
Whitson finished 11th after shooting a 78-78-81-237, while Chapdelaine followed up in 13th with a 77-78-85-240.
“They were due to play good,” Rattlers golf coach Dillon Batsel said of the men’s team, which finished third at the North Regional and fourth at the South Regional earlier this season. “I know all these guys and I knew they were better than how they played the first two weeks. It was just a matter of time and I’m glad they saved it for a tough, tough weekend up here in Camrose.”
In the women’s individual event, Zukowski and Schultz finished a stroke apart to take fourth and fifth, respectively. Zukowski shot a 94-80-90-264 and Schultz closed out her weekend at 91-89-85-265. Rattler teammate Ciara Bonogofski finished 13th with a 108-96-109-313.
“I was just really proud with how me and Nicole both grinded through it all, through the tough weather,” said Zukowski. “We took everything in stride.”
Batsel says all eight golfers will make the trip to nationals at the Continental Golf Club in Sorel-Tracey, Que., Oct. 14-18.
Fellow Rattlers Kent Lesko and Logan Crawford finished 16th and 33rd, respectively, at Coal Creek. Lesko shot an 85-78-83-246, while Crawford settled for an 83-90-96-269.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story quoted Dillon Batsel as saying the Rattlers have never qualified both golf teams for nationals. Both squads qualified for nationals in Oshawa in 2012.
