On May 13, in inclement weather and nasty winds, the tri-district tournament for golfing kicked off at the Gallery Country Club in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, and the Orcas golf club came out on top with the most team points, beating Life Christian with a score of 49 points. Life Christian came in second with 38 points, and Highland Christian came in third, with a total of 30 points. The Orcas golf team won the tri-district championships for the second straight year in a row and has won the championship three out of the last four years.
The Orcas boys played on Wednesday for 18 holes, and the girls played on May 14. Tee times were done by their seeded average and the best players went out first. Twelve schools were present at the tri-district tournament.
“The weather was awful…it was rainy and windy, but they pulled through…all three of my boys who placed well thought they had played terrible games and they all went back to their hotel rooms before the results were announced,” Coach Bobby Olmsted said. “They won the Wednesday tournament.”
For Orcas, Taylor Diepenbrock placed 3rd overall in individual scoring with 85; Henri Bredouw placed 5th with a score of 86, and Alan Coe, with a score of 89, placed 8th. These players got team points. Joe Boucher came in 23rd and Spencer Sare came in 24th. Both Orcas girls, Maddy Smith and Cetacea Stanton, who played on Thursday, just missed the cut by two strokes each.
“I am just very proud of all of them, girls and boys. They have all worked very hard and all of their games have improved. I could not be happier with their progress as golfers and team players,” Olmsted said.
The state play-off game is Wednesday May 27 in the Tri-Cities at the Kenniwick country club. There is a field of 80 young men. At the state event, there will be a 50 percent elimination.
Orcas golf will be represented by Diepenbrock, Bredouw, and Coe, who all went to state last year and are repeating the honor again.
“They have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks, but I know they will apply themselves. They take the game seriously,” Olmsted said.
