The Niagara Knights golf team is looking to continue their hot play and strike gold in Prince Edward Island this week. The Knights will compete in theti 2016 PING CCAA National Championships, hosted by Holland College, from October 19-21 at Fox Meadow Golf Course in Stratford, PEI.
Niagara is riding high after their performance at the OCAA Golf Championship last weekend. Josiah Dixon (Bognor) and Lorelle Weavers (Burlington) each captured their respective individual gold medals. The men's team, led by Dixon, also captured gold. Evan Littlefield (Thunder Bay) rounded out the medal haul, taking home the men's individual bronze medal.
The Knights men enter the tournament as the nation's number three seed, behind only the Camosun Chargers and UFV Cascades, who are first and second respectively. The Knights golfers will pair up with golfers from Camosun, UFV, and the fourth seeded Georgian Grizzlies for the first two rounds of the tournament.
Last season the Knights captured silver at the CCAA Championship, finishing only behind the champions from Camosun. The Knights return to the championship looking to improve upon the result, and capture the first team national championship at Niagara since 2005. In the tough conditions that are offered with playing October golf in Atlantic Canada, the teams who succeed this week will be those who can best deal with the conditions.
Earlier this season the Knights won a rain shortened Niagara Knights Fall Classic in wet, windy, and rainy conditions. If they can once again weather the proverbial storm throughout the week, there's no doubt they will find themselves in the mix on Friday afternoon.
Niagara will lean heavily on Dixon and Littlefield, the last two OCAA champions. However, in order to put themselves in contention they need strong contributions from Brett Shewchuk (Thunder Bay), Ben Kenel (Hamilton), and Logan Lammerant (Seaforth) who round out the roster after finishing 16th, 21st, and 24th respectively at the OCAA championship.
On the women's side of the draw Lorelle Weavers is looking to grow her already extensive medal collection. Last week she captured her second consecutive OCAA gold medal, defeating rival Addison Wallwin from Georgian College by a single stroke. Weavers has also experienced success at the national level before. The two-time Niagara College Athlete of the Year won the 2014 CCAA national championship by two strokes, and finished fourth at the 2015 event.
For the first time ever, the CCAA Golf Championship will be live streamed. Courtesy of Bell TV1 and Universum media, viewers will be able to watch live coverage of holes 1, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 18, as well as highlights from around the course and interviews throughout each day of the event.
Round 1 Tee Times (ET)
Brett Shewchuk - 7:30am
Evan Littlefield - 7:40am
Logan Lammerant - 7:50am
Ben Kenel - 8:00am
Josiah Dixon - 8:10am
Lorelle Weavers - 8:45am*
*Denote 10th hole start
Knights CCAA Championship Medal History
2015 - Men's Team - SILVER
2014 - Lorelle Weavers - GOLD
2012 - Robert Ellis - SILVER
2009 - Chris Hargest - GOLD
2005 - Men's Team - GOLD
2005 - Andrew Egerter - SILVER
2004 - Men's Team - BRONZE
