The Ballenas Whalers golf team is heading to the provincials this week.
It will be the school’s first appearance after a 13-year absence from provincials. This year, the Whalers team has a good core of young, talented players.
Consisting of Grade 11s Daryll Setter, Ethan Busch and exchange student Anabell Chedon, Grade 9 Ben Roberts, and Grade 8 Gavyn Knight, the Whalers played well at the 2018 AAA Island Golf Championships held at the Gorge Vale Golf Course in Victoria on May 24.
They competed against nine other schools who vied for one of the five spots for the 2018 AAA Golf Championships that will be held at the Nanaimo Golf and Country Club June 4-6.
The Whalers leading up to at the Islands placed well at the North Islands, carding what coach Daryl Britz says was “the best team score in over seven years at North Islands” with a 308 total at Crown Island Golf Club in Courtenay.
At the tougher Gorge Vale course, the Whalers posted a team total of 319, just missing out on third place by two strokes and were eight strokes behind the eventual winners, Claremont, with 311. Second place was Dover with 315 and third was Esquimalt with 317.
Britz commended some individual highlights of the team that included the youngest member, Knight, who shot consistently well with a 73 at the North Islands and a 77 at the Islands. Busch also carded a 77 and 79, Roberts 79-80, and Chedon 79-83, respectively.
The Whalers, Britz said, have a good chance of doing well at the provincials, which will feature 21 other AAA schools from across British Columbia. Britz is thankful the BC’s will be held at the Nanaimo Golf and Country Club, as it will give the Whalers a bit of an advantage as they are familiar with the course.
The Whalers have other team members that are expected to move up the ranks. They are Jeff Ham, Grade 11; Trevor Nicol, Grade 10; Ethan Brockway and Ethen Harvey, Grade 9; and Ashton Sadauskis, Grade 8.
Britz attributed the Whalers’ vast improvements to the support given by the Pheasant Glen golf course, “especially Gord, Travis and Brayden, for hosting and providing the time for our districtwide golf class, which has made a huge difference as well as Morningstar golf course for their continued support of our golf program and being our home course for practice and tournaments.”