A University of the Fraser Valley golf program based out of Chilliwack and coached by two Chilliwack natives made PACWEST history over the weekend.
Head coach Chris Bertram and assistant Aaron Pauls oversaw a Cascade crew that swept both the team and individual men’s and women’s titles on Sunday at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club, becoming the first program to ever achieve that honour.
On the team front, the UFV women’s squad put the finishing touches on a title run which saw them finish atop the standings at all four PACWEST tourneys.
Their cumulative total of 1,244 strokes was 128 strokes clear of runner-up UBC Okanagan.
On the men’s side, the Cascades trailed their UBC Okanagan counterparts by three strokes heading into the weekend, but made up 22 strokes over the course of Saturday and Sunday’s rounds to win the title by 19 (2,317 to 2,336).
Individually, UFV’s Daniel Campbell became the first-ever Cascade to win the PACWEST men’s crown, and Emery Bardock won the women’s championship.
And their accomplishments were merely the tip of the iceberg for UFV, which accounted for five of the six individual medalists and six of the eight PACWEST all-stars.
The women’s all-star squad featured three players, and all of them were Cascades. Bardock (625 strokes) led the way, followed by Mission’s Hannah Dirksen (635) and Maddie Kapchinsky (638).
“It went really, really well,” Bertram said.
“Our ladies team once again played great – they had their best round of the season on the last day of the season, and hats off to them for a gold medal.”
Looking at the UFV Invitational in isolation, Bardock (154) edged Dirksen (156) by two strokes, and Kapchinsky was third at 160.
“We had high hopes going into the fall season, for sure, and we had a bit of adversity in the early going,” Bertram said.
The team trains at the Chilliwack Golf Club.
