Ryan Vest shook off a tough opening round to help his team win the Canada West Men’s Golf Championship in Chilliwack Tuesday, Oct. 21.
Vest, a sophomore from Vernon, and the UBCO Heat of Kelowna won their second straight Canada West title, overcoming a three-shot deficit in the second round to win gold.
Vest shot a 4-under-par 68 in Round 2, and, coupled with his 3-over 75 in the opening round Monday, finished the tournament at 1-under park.
Entering the second round at 10-under par, the Heat brought their game to a new level, combining to fire two eagles, 21 birdies and just six bogeys to shoot 19-under par 269 and hold off Vancouver UBC Thunderbirds. The Heat finished the day at 29-under par 547, two shots ahead of the Thunderbirds who won silver at 27-under par 549.
The Manitoba Bisons took home bronze at 21-under par 555.
“The players played unbelievable. I mean 19-under-par in one day is a school record for us. Just extremely proud of the guys to show what they’re capable of doing,” said UBCO head coach Clay Stothers, who was also named the conference’s men’s golf coach of the year. “It’s a belief system that the players have within the program, within our school and what we’re trying to do. It’s just great to see the kids get rewarded for all the hard work that they’ve put in.”
Last year’s Canada West individual champion, Ryan Gillis from Calgary, once again led the way for the Heat at this year’s event. The third-year shot an impressive final round of six-under par 66 to finish in a tie for second place, ultimately taking home the individual bronze medal at nine-under par 135. He also earned a nod as a Canada West First Team All-Star for the second straight year.
Teammate Andrew Rouble of Wellesley, Ont., leapt up the leaderboard in the second round, shooting the second-best round of the week at seven-under par 65 to finish tied fourth. That was good enough to be named a Canada West Second Team All-Star.
Rouble was joined on that team by Heatmate Chris Jo of Oakville, Ont., who tied for eighth place at six-under par 138 to earn his second-straight Canada West Second Team All-Star recognition.
Rookie Oakley Mayner from Kelowna was steady over the two days, finishing at three-under par 141.
The Heat will compete in one final event in the fall term before breaking until the spring. They are set to travel to Arizona to play in the Firestorm Fall Invitational, set for Nov. 3 to 5 at the Verrado Golf Club.
UBC settles for women’s rugby silver
The UBC Thunderbirds’ quest for a sixth consecutive Canada West women’s rugby 15s championship was stopped by the only team they’ve lost to in 2025 – their provincial rivals, the Victoria Vikes.
Victoria edged Coldstream’s Mya Kaleba and UBC 18-17 in the Canada West championship in Edmonton, a back-and-forth battle decided by just the one point.
It was the Vikes’ third win in as many games over UBC this season. The two teams have met in every Canada West final since 2021 with UBC winning each game until the one played at the University of Alberta Oct. 19.
UVIC took an 11-5 lead into intermission, and after the re-start, the Thunderbirds broke through for their first lead in the 58th, and it came through the middle of the pitch rather than the outside, courtesy of Kaleba.
The second-year standout received the ball and drove straight into a couple Vikes’ defenders, and it didn’t seem like the beginning of a highlight moment. But Kaleba kept her legs churning and shed her would-be tacklers, sending them crashing to the turf as she crashed through everyone and into the try zone.
A successful convert from Brooklyn Roddham made it 12-11, setting up a nailbiter of a finish.
As the clock ticked towards the 70-minute mark, the defending champs broke through again with another big play. This time it was Roddham and Adia Pye playing some give-and-go down the left sideline, setting up the former for UBC’s third try of the day, but again the kick after was no good, leaving the score at 17-11 T-Birds.
The missed convert proved to be crucial when the Vikes drove back down the field and scored a try of their own through Kira Smed with just over five minutes to play. That convert was made, nudging UVic back in front by just a single point.
While the T-Birds made a couple determined pushes in the waning moments, and on one of them getting just inside the Vikes’ 10-yard line, they were unable to punch any more points through.
UVIC won its second conference title.
The two B.C. schools were the class of the Canada West field. UBC blew out the Lethbridge Pronghorns 50-21 in its semifinal, while UVIC took care of the host Golden Pandas 67-0 in the other final four contest.
Kaleba and the T-Birds now look ahead to the CGIS U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championship, which UBC will host starting Oct. 29.
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