It was two days of great golfing for St. Paul athletes, as the St. Paul Regional High School teams travelled to Red Deer to compete in the provincial golf championship.
After two days on the links, the boys' team from St. Paul would take very respectable bronze medals, while the girls' team would also fair well, finishing in fifth place overall.
Making up the boys' team was: Logan Gratton, Blake Gratton, Colin Pasitney, and Reid Fedoruk.
Making up the girls' team was: Sophie Pasitney, Brittney Cole, Kaylie Jean, and Jesse Kurek.
And while the overall effort from all the Regional athletes over the short golf season was impressive, with strong zone performances also from teammates, it was siblings Sophie and Colin Pasitney who managed to crack the top 10 for individual placings at the provincials championship.
A game for the whole family
Colin Pasitney, who is in Grade 10, tied for fifth place in the province. Lately, he's found himself competing against golfers a year or two older than him, but he continues to simply focus on his own game.
His older sister, Sophie Pasitney, a Grade 12 student at Regional, finished tied for eighth place at provincials. After coming home from provincials, the young golfer was weighing her options and working to decide where she would be heading next season to play the sport that has become a huge part of the Pasitney family.
Sophie has been offered scholarships with a couple different schools in the United States, and will soon be following in her older brothers' footsteps.
"I haven't quite made a decision yet," says Sophie. She acknowledges that "It's really exciting" to be able to have a choice in where she will attend post-secondary school and play golf.
The two oldest Pasitney siblings, Jeremie and Justin, are already proving themselves on the other side of the border, playing golf while enrolled at University of the Southwest in New Mexico. Justin is completing a major in finance, while Jeremie is majoring in Sports Management, according to the university's official website.
Throughout the summer, Sophie and Colin followed the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour, mostly playing on courses in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The pair often come up against the same other young golfers, and competed against some of those same athletes at provincials.
As a Grade 10 student, this was Colin's first appearance at zones and provincials, which means he has two more seasons to best his fifth place finish. Both Colin and Sophie are quick to point out that golf is something the Pasitney family does together, and that is one of the reasons they've been so successful.
The siblings credit their dad, Jerrid, for helping coach them throughout the years.
"Our whole family (plays)," says Sophie, with Colin quickly adding, "We just enjoy playing it all together."
When asked if there are any challenges or changes they have to make to their game, when going from playing on courses in larger centres, both golfers agree it can be quite different playing on their home golf course in St. Paul, compared to courses in Arizona, for example. Specifically, adjustments have to be made to make up for differences on the greens, when putting.
When playing at the Alberta Schools' Athletics Association (ASAA) provincials, golfing goes from being an individual sport to being done in a team format. But, Colin says he still approaches the game in the same way.
"I just try to do the best I can for me, and it turns out for the team."
Sophie agrees, adding, this year the whole team from Regional High School played really well.
