The NAIT golf team wrapped up its season at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Golf Championships in Medicine Hat on Oct. 17 with another finish near the bottom of the standings for both the men’s and women’s sides. In the three consecutive years they’ve qualified, neither team has placed higher than second-last — and it may seem like the program’s progress has ground to a halt. But while the growth may be small, there is still growth, and the team has no plans to slow down.
Young program improving, but still room for growth
NAIT’s golf program was revived in 2023 and achieved notable success in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) in its first three seasons.
The program has won four collective silvers and four collective bronzes and finished first at a tournament this season for the first time since the program’s revival. The coaching has received accolades, too. Head Coach Tyler Leicht has won ACAC Golf Coach of the Year in 2023 and 2025.
“We’re excited, and I’m excited and I’m very much looking forward to the future.”
But despite that success, the young program has yet to medal at nationals.
Leicht explained that he has seen minor, steady improvements from his teams each time they have competed at nationals, even though their standings have remained the same.
“Looking at it from just a surface level, we haven’t really improved, but looking at our team scores … we’ve consistently gotten better by a significant margin year by year,” Leicht said. “So that gap between us being in eighth place to what it looks like being in sixth, to fifth to fourth place, that margin is slowly getting smaller.”
“Looking at how our team scored in its first nationals to its second, to its third … we’ve improved by almost thirty strokes.”
The men’s team shot a combined +109 over par at nationals this year — their best results yet — down from +161 in 2024 and +144 in 2023. While the ACAC women’s team, which has had one NAIT women’s golfer representing the school in each of the past three seasons, has seen fluctuations in its score year over year: Ava Radke shot +134 in 2025, Ella Dolan managed +72 in 2024 and Michaella Kibblewhite got +81 in 2023.
ACAC golf has struggled in the past
For NAIT, and for the other ACAC teams, competing with the “powerhouses in the CCAA” has been a struggle, Leicht noted.
Only three ACAC men’s teams have won a medal since 2004 — SAIT in 2025, Medicine Hat in 2021, and Mount Royal in 2009. Meanwhile, Humber Polytechnic’s men’s team has finished in the top three 16 times, including nine national wins in that same time span.
Given the ACAC’s history of limited success at the national level, it may take some time before the Ooks can field a team to compete nationally.
“It took their [SAIT] program just over 10 years to do that,” Leicht said. “So hopefully for us, we can narrow that gap a little bit and not have to wait 10 years, but definitely kind of something to strive for.”
The Ooks have demonstrated their ability to be competitive at the ACAC level and build up to the national stage with small year-over-year improvements. Their next goal of achieving a gold at the ACAC championships may be challenging, but the foundation they’ve built signals a bright future for the Ooks.
“We’re looking at some pieces that are going to help our team continue to grow and succeed,” said Leicht. “[Gold] is still a goal for our program. I know everyone’s hungry for that.”
“Sometimes it only takes one person to make a big difference … we’re excited, and I’m excited and I’m very much looking forward to the future.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Nugget’s Nov. 12 print issue. Read it online here.
Feature image via NAIT Ooks.
