University of the Fraser Valley golfer Hannah Dirksen staged a breakthrough performance at the Kwantlen Eagles’ tournament on the weekend.
Dirksen, a second-year Cascade, dominated the women’s division. The Mission product’s total score of 163 (82-81) was good for a seven-stroke margin over her closest pursuer, teammate Jennifer Kell, who had a great tournament in her own right.
It was the first career PacWest victory for Dirksen.
“Hannah’s been on the verge of a breakthrough for the last year, and to see her go out and get a win in adverse conditions is going to do wonders for her confidence and bolster her role as a leader on the team,” said Cascades head coach Chris Bertram.
Dirksen’s win and Kell’s runner-up result allowed the UFV women to take the team title at Northview – their combined score of 333 was nine strokes better than the UBC Okanagan Heat. UFV’s Ciara Melhus (98-91=189) finished seventh overall. The Cascades closed to within seven strokes of UBCO (671 to 678) in the cumulative season standings.
“On the team side, it was really great to see the ladies play so well and get their first win and make up some ground in the team competition on UBCO,” Bertram said. “I think they’ve shown now that they can play with those ladies, and I think that belief is going to help them as we move into the second half of the conference season.”
This weekend, the Cascades head to Victoria for the third of four PacWest conference tourneys, hosted by Camosun at Bear Mountain.