By Ron Smith
 
(SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.) The 2020-21 Westmont athletics season teed off at the Bella Collina Golf Course where the Warrior golf teams competed in the Vanguard Invitational.
 
"It was great to be able to play a tournament in such a crazy time," said Westmont head coach Tom Knecht. "The fact that we were out there competing meant the world to us. The players loved it, the coaches loved it and we had a ball.
 
"It was a challenging course with a lot of elevation change. It was a really good test of golf and a lot of fun to play."
 
"The men played well. They are currently fifth out of seven. Mason Mancasola led the way. He is tied for seventh right now and had two solid rounds. As a freshman playing his first collegiate tournament, he played awesome. All the guys did. I was super proud of them."
 
Mancasola shot rounds of 76 and 75 today for a total score of 151 strokes (seven over par). Jared Tran, another freshman, posted rounds of 80 and 82 to tally 162 strokes.
 
The women's team is in fifth place after the first day.
 
"This was the first time the women have played 36 holes (on the first day)," said Knecht. "They competed hard and played hard and persevered. Kat Bevill played really well; she is tied for fifth. She burned the edges on a bunch of putts; otherwise, she would have been even lower. Kat played tremendous and I was proud of all of them for getting through 36 holes."
 
Bevill shot two rounds of 78 to tally 156 strokes (12 over) on the day.
 
In order to be able to play, the team took a number of extra precautions due to the pandemic. While the sport of golf makes social distancing fairly easy during play, there were plenty of other challenges.
 
The team had not met in person until they arrived at the course on Sunday morning for the practice round.
 
"They showed up and had their own cars," said Knecht. "We all came back to the hotel and checked them all into their own rooms. We all wear masks when we are in a common area or together. We try to minimize contact as best we can.
 
"I brought all the uniforms down with me. They showed up, took the uniforms, went into the locker room, put them on and away we went.
"We used to go to the same restaurant and eat. Now we have to figure out ways to feed everyone. Right now we are ordering a bunch of pizzas and have them pick them up and go back to their rooms."
 
Despite all the extra arrangements, and the inability to practice together prior to the opening event, Knecht is happy to see his team competing for the first time in six months.
 
Tomorrow, both Warrior teams will play one more round at Bella Collina to conclude the tournament.