After an impressive finish at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Championships—where they took home four medals—NAIT’s golf program qualified six golfers for nationals.
The top five finishers on the men’s side—Cayden Clark, Mason Gorski, Blake Feth, Nate Kasowski and Tanner Visser—represented the blue and gold at nationals. NAIT does not have a women’s team compete at nationals; instead, NAIT’s Ella Dolan joined Concordia University’s Ella Gifford and Laura Psutka to form the ACAC Women’s #1 team. All the golfers are scored individually, but their scores are also added to form the team score.
The Ooks finished the tournament without any medals; the women came close, finishing fourth with +101. Ella Dollan and the ACAC first team were in third place heading into the tournament’s final day. But the team shot a combined 181—their worst score of the tournament—to fall off the podium and lose the medal.
The men’s team faced a similar fate. For the second year in a row, NAIT’s men ended the tournament in ninth place out of 10. While the team had individual bright spots, as a collective, they were never really in a position to contend for a podium spot.
Despite the disappointing team finishes, several NAIT golfers stood out on the individual level. Rookie Ella Dollan peaked at the seventh position in the women’s rankings in round two before dropping to her finishing position of 12th after round four.
Mason Gorski was in sixth place before the final round and walked away with 13th place, improving from his team-best 18th place finish at last year’s nationals. Nate Kasowski also received the Canadian Colleges Athletics Association (CCAA) Exemplary Leadership Award for his “outstanding contributions both on and off the course.” Kasowski is the second NAIT golfer to win the award after Gorski in 2023.
While the team didn’t get silver and gold they were chasing for at nationals, they did improve on their 2023 ACAC Golf Championships performance, earning a silver in 2024 instead of the 2023 bronze. There’s also a lot for the team to be excited about for 2025/26, including the emergence of Ella Dolan, who was named ACAC Women’s Golf Rookie of the year. And for a program only two years old, the team has set a strong baseline of success to watch out for next season.
