Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Justin Berget had a potentially epic low round going at one point at Red Tail Landing Golf Club on Saturday.

Pace-setting the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference North Regional early with four front-nine birdies, the MacEwan Griffins veteran was on track for a low-60s sizzler.

A double on 10, however, cut into his momentum and the Stony Plain product rolled into the clubhouse with a 2-under 70. Still a solid round, which gives him a share of second place with UAlberta-Augustana's Brady Johnson, a shot behind defending ACAC champion Michael Harrison, also of the Vikings., who was the only man to sneak into the 60s.

"Justin had it going on really well in the beginning of his round and finished it off really solid," said MacEwan head coach Jodi Campbell. "I think if you asked him, he would have liked to have gone lower, but sometimes when you get a solid round like that going, your brain tends to shoot to the end. He was able to hold it together and lead the team today, so that's a really good round for him."

SAIT's Curtis Webster (71) and Matthew Cook (72) and Medicine Hat's Chase Broderson (73) round out the top six men on Day 1.

MacEwan rookies Nate Gerhardt and Stephen Christenson are tied for seventh with former Griffin Dakota Smith, now of SAIT – all authors of 74s.

"They both had really solid rounds today," Campbell said. "For two rookies to come in and perform really well in our first tournament, it's very promising. They're both going to be looked at to fill in some gaps on our team here. Overall, I'm really happy with how they played today, for sure."

Griffins rookie Stephen Christenson lines up a putt on Saturday. He shot 74 and is tied for seventh (Jaelyn Birch photo).

Second-year Jarrett Bossert shot a 76, while first-years Blake Caron (78) and Jose Lopez Peterson (79), and senior Noah Lubberding (79) rounded out MacEwan's men's results.

"In many ways, today is just about getting everybody into action and seeing everybody get some good rounds in, and start to build on some confidence," said Campbell. "At the end of the day, the goal is to peak in the ACAC Championship. If we can start off on the right foot now and build over the next few weeks, we're pretty happy about that."

At Red Tail Landing, the men's team race couldn't be tighter heading into the second and final round on Sunday (tee times start at 8 a.m.). SAIT (294) holds a three-shot lead over Augustana (297), while MacEwan (298) and Medicine Hat College (302) are very much in the hunt.

"We knew there were going to be some tough teams – No. 1 that SAIT and Augustana were going to be right there," said Campbell. "Medicine Hat's got a strong team.

"I like the fact that we've got four strong teams that are going to be battling it out. The fact the top teams are all within a few shots just goes to show it's going to be the team that decides to show up."

On the women's side, Concordia's Kennedy Turcotte holds a commanding nine-shot lead over the rest of the field after a huge first round 74, highlighted by three birdies. Medicine Hat's Nicole Schultz (83) and SAIT's Carey McLean (83) round out the top three.

Jordan Hoyda led the MacEwan women's golf team with a 98 on Saturday (Jaelyn Birch photo).

Jordan Hoyda led MacEwan's entry with a 98 that has her tied for ninth. Skyler Thompson (100 – 11^th), Terynn Jensen (103 – 13^th) and Taylor Eskdale (114 – 16^th) round out MacEwan's results.

"I thought Terynn Jensen played very well for the women," said Campbell. "She's got such a great attitude and, for new players, you've kind of got to get that first round out of the way.

"They know what to expect tomorrow. I'm expecting a really solid bounce-back from them, from everybody really."

The Griffins are third in the women's team standings (301), behind second-place Medicine Hat (283) and leader SAIT (262).

"We've definitely got a team that can compete, but they're going to have to clean up some areas of their games to (challenge) those top positions," said Campbell. "Definitely some room for improvement, but they all identified areas where they left some shots out there. There's lots of room to pick up when we come into tomorrow."

ACAC North Regional - Round 2 Draw

Red Tail Landing Golf Club