KELOWNA – It was a strong showing for the UBC Thunderbirds at the Canada West Championships, as the women’s team came in first place and the men second behind hosts UBC Okanagan.
The UBC women led wire-to-wire. They finished Day 1 with a team score of 217 (-2), eight strokes ahead of second place. The T-Birds then ran away from the competition on the second day, shooting a blistering 205 (-14) en route to winning the tournament by 34 strokes. UBC has won all five Canada West titles since the tournament began in 2019.
Four of the top five individual finishers were T-Birds, and all seven members of the squad made the top 13. Elizabeth Labbe took the individual crown, lighting up the course with a tournament-low 66 (-7) on Wednesday to finish with a two-round total of 138 (-8).
That mark was three strokes ahead of teammate Grace Bell (141, -5) who was the runner-up. Last year’s individual leader Jessica Ng tied for third (143, -3), while rookie Keira Hou rounded out the top five (145, -1).
In all, the UBC team was the only one to finish under par as a squad, and accounted for seven of the 10 individual under par rounds on the women’s side. Labbe and Bell were the only ones to finish under par in both rounds.
The T-Birds men also improved from the first round to the second, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to repeat as champions. The ‘Birds ended Day 1 in third place with a score of 285 (-3), behind the Heat and the Victoria Vikes. They did one better in the second round (284, -4), leaping nine strokes ahead of UVic but finishing 17 behind UBC Okanagan, who dominated on their home course.
Mackenzie Bickell was the top Thunderbird on the individual leaderboard for the second straight tournament, finishing tied for third (140, -4). The other top T-Birds were John Paul Kahlert in joint sixth (142, -2), Aneesh Kaura in joint eighth (143, -1), and Aidan Schumer who tied for 11th (144, E). All six UBC athletes finished in the top half of the leaderboard.
The Thunderbirds were one of only two teams (along with the Heat) to shoot under par as a team in both rounds, and continued their streak of finishing either first or second in every Canada West Championship.
Both T-Birds teams now have a well-deserved week off before they’re back in action on October 21st and 22nd, when UBC hosts a pair of simultaneous NAIA tournaments in Bremerton, Washington. The men’s tournament is the UBC Thunderbirds Men’s Invite, while the women’s is the Gail Moore Intercollegiate.