Former PC hoops coach helps team take PC golf tourney
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, September 2, 2020
A basketball coach with a knack for helping his teams excel in the postseason made the most of his return to the Olympic Peninsula.
Mitch Freeman, former Peninsula College men’s basketball head coach, teamed up with former assistant Jon Ing, and teammates C.J. Freeman and Jake Wheeler to win the annual Pirate Golf Tournament on Aug. 29 at The Cedars at Dungeness in Sequim.
Freeman, now the athletic director at Skagit Valley College who amassed 88 hardcourt wins in his five seasons at PC, and company shot an 18-under 54, good for first place in the four-person scramble.
Peninsula Golf Club pro Chad Wagner, a Sequim High graduate, joined with Paul Reed, Bill Evenstad and Alex Atwell to shoot a 54 as well but placed second via a scorecard tiebreaker.
Mike Trautman, Everett College men’s basketball coach, teamed with Nick Fantini, Jake Cummings and Rod Hendricks to finish third at 55.
The tournament is one of two signature fund-raising events held by the college’s athletic program each year.
With a field of 108, the golf tourney brought in about $7,500 to support student athletes.
“The sponsors, and golfers really came through,” said Rick Ross, associate dean for athletics at Peninsula. “We have 11 Northwest Athletic Conference championship trophies in our case and I know we wouldn’t have those without the support we get from 7 Cedars Casino and all of our corporate sponsors and Pirate boosters.”
A special “middle-of-the pack award” for the team that places 19th, went to a group that includes Kanyon Anderson — head coach of the perennial NWAC powerhouse PC women’s soccer team — PC assistant coach Andrew Cooper, Port Angeles High School boys’ coach Chris Saari, and Pirate/former Roughrider for a 7-under-par 65.
Ali Crumb, Peninsula’ College’s head women’s basketball coach, won women’s long drive, while Cooper and Saari won closest-to-pin contests.
The men’s long drive went to Matt Winkleman and the other KP to Will Frick on No. 17, where no one managed to take home the 2020 Jeep as the hole-in-one prize from Wilder Auto.
The tourney was played with a number of safety measures in place, Ross noted.
“Hats off to tournament director Donald Rollman and the staff at Cedars at Dungeness for finding COVID-safe measures to pull this off,” Ross said.
“The masks hopefully stopped the spread of particles in the air, but they didn’t slow the spread of golf stories, taunting, and other banter associated with this annual celebration of the college’s sports program and its’ history in this community.”
