MONROE, Ore. – For the second straight season the Northwest Christian University men’s golf team has finished the Cascade Conference season in second place. They cemented their runner-up finish with a strong showing in the CCC Championship/NAIA Qualifier combo event this week at Diamond Woods Golf Course, taking fourth place overall and second among CCC teams.
The Beacons scored a 927 overall, beating out Corban College by four strokes, but Concordia University was out in front among CCC teams with a 909, sealing the CCC championship. For the NAIA Qualification portion of the tournament, non-conference teams University of Victoria and University of British Columbia joined the fray from Canada, taking first and second places. Victoria won the event with an 853, eleven shots under par. British Columbia took second with an 881.
Heading into Tuesday’s final round, senior
Justin Ahrens (pictured) sat ten shots behind Corban’s Joey Duwe in the Player of the Year race. Ahrens came into the clubhouse with an even-par round of 72, but Duwe hung on with a 78, giving Ahrens his second consecutive runner-up finish in the CCC, and an All-Conference selection. Ahrens took 8th place overall in the tournament (75-73-72=220) and ranked second among CCC players behind medalist Will Snow (70-72-72=214) from Concordia.
Junior
Brent McKee has also been honored for the third straight year as an All-CCC golfer after finishing out the season with a 17th place finish, 7th among the conference athletes. McKee (78-77-76=231) was followed by senior
Josh Samples in 23rd (78-81-78=237) and sophomore
Chase Cleaver in 24th (81-78-80=239). Also golfing for the Beacons was freshman
Kyle Dube, claiming 32nd place (87-86-91=264).