By Jacob Norling
April 26, 2021
 
(SURPRISE, Ariz.) In their second year of program history, the Warriors finally got their feet wet in the Golden State Athletic Conference Championship Tournament. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Westmont's inaugural season was cut short weeks before the team was set to head out to Arizona. But this year the team did get to make the trip, and day one brought about much optimism.
 
"Day one went really well," said Westmont head coach Tom Knecht. "I thought we really peaked as a team, both in the men's and women's squad playing some of our best golf. And we have a couple people in contention, so all in all a good day."
 
On the men's side Trevor White and Mason Mancasola finished within a stroke of one another at 76 and 77 respectively. The men ended day one in 12th and 13th place, with White being six strokes behind the Masters' Jack Dudeck and Tyler Smith. Both Dudeck and Smith were the only men in the tournament to shoot under par on day one, and are currently tied for first.
 
Mancasola led all men collecting par 14 times on the day, with White collecting twelve of his own. Mancasola's struggles came on par 4's, where he shot three over par, but he was one of only three men all day to break even on par 3's.
 
"Both Trevor and Mason played really well," said Knecht. "They have a chance to move on up tomorrow and then finish strong on Wednesday so they set themselves up well today."
 
Elsewhere for the men, Tom Ridd shot an 81 on day one and Hunter Shumake closed out the day for the Warriors by shooting an 86.
 
For the women, Westmont's best performance of the day came from Kat Bevill, who finished day one tied for tenth after completing 18 holes in 86 strokes. Bevill tallied five pars and a birdie, but struggled on par 4's and 5's as she shot a combined nine over on the two.
 
Mia Jimenez shot a 91, Drew Thompson shot a 94, and Autumn Jon Bier shot an even 100 to close things out on the women's side for Westmont. Jimenez and Thompson each tallied a birdie.
 
When asked to describe their impression of the course, one of the golfer's first words was, "Fast. With firmer greens the ball can travel. Depending on if you're going uphill or downhill it can definitely get a bit speedy, but it's a beautiful course and we have a couple days to get a better feel for it."
 
"It's a get-able course," said Knecht. "We noticed today that the greens are a little bit firm so you can't land it at the pin and expect it to stop, but it's a totally fair course. It's beautiful, the puts run true, and it was nice that it wasn't a hundred degrees out here."
 
The Warriors found themselves lucky on Monday, with the highest temperature in Surprise reaching 77 degrees. The forecast shows that the team should be able to escape the desert before triple digits return this weekend, making much for a much more comfortable Surprise trip than many would expect.
 
Westmont will look to take advantage of the favorable conditions tomorrow during day two of the GSAC Champion Tournament, with both Bevill and White set to tee off first for the club at 8:45 AM.