Jim Poetsch/For the Seaside Signal Jackson Kunde

THE DALLES — The Seaside boys golf team scored its first big victory of the spring March 23, as the Gulls beat all the big schools to finish first in The Dalles Invitational, held at The Dalles Country Club.

Seaside — which was not even at full strength — knocked 40 strokes off its score from last year’s tournament to card a 359 team score.

The Gulls finished ahead of the host Riverhawks (369) and third-place Pendleton (373), both 5A schools who placed in the top five in last year’s 5A state tournament.

Seaside was led by brothers Jackson Kunde and Curtis Kunde, who finished tied for fifth individually with a pair of 87’s.

“This is always a great test of golf,” said golf coach Jim Poetsch, whose program won 4A state titles in 2014 and 2015. “This course exposes your weaknesses, and while we were shown ours, we had less than the other teams today.

“You look at the scores and think we might not have played our best, but we scored the same as Pendleton did last year and they earned a trophy at the 5A level last season.”

The supporting scores for Seaside came from Connor Merrell (88) and Mason Shamion (97). Mason Crawford (103) was Seaside’s fifth player, as the Gulls were missing two-year letterman Samson Sibony.

“To come up and beat the No. 2 and 4 teams in 5A on their home turf is a good way to get the season rolling,” Poetsch said. “Having three of the top seven golfers with Jackson, Curtis and Connor should build some confidence, too. This is one of those courses that makes you pay for every mistake, so we see scores at this tournament that are higher than normal.

“I think all of our players learned to keep grinding out a score because you don’t know what other guys are shooting until you are done,” he said. “I don’t think any of them thought they played particularly well until they started seeing scores. Then they were a little happier with what they had accomplished.”

BEAVERTON — The Seaside boys golf team was in action March 21, as Valley Catholic hosted the Gulls for a Cowapa League dual at Meriwether Golf Course.

The Valiants scored a 20-stroke team victory, carding a 324 to Seaside’s 344.

Valley Catholic’s top two golfers vied for medalist honors, with Cole Heinsen (38-36—74) topping teammate Andrew Plambeck (37-38—75) for the top spot.

Jackson Kunde led the Gulls with an 82 (42-40), followed by Connor Merrell (39-44—83), Samson Sibony (47-42—89) and Chris Kunde (47-43—90) as the four scoring Seaside golfers. Mason Shamion (43-48—91) rounded out the scoring.

“We played a lot of good holes of golf today,” said Seaside coach Jim Poetsch. “Every one of our players had a birdie and we had plenty of pars, but we took ourselves out of this match with too many blowup holes.”

The Seaside junior varsity team defeated Valley Catholic. John Whittle was medalist for the Gulls with a 101, followed by Mason Crawford (110), Chris Bodner (111), Nick Mace (126) and Leif DeWinter (150).