Tiger junior Adele Gregory finishes in 43rd with a two-day score of 185

CRESWELL – Newberg’s sole representative finished in the middle of the pack at the Class 6A girls golf championships, held May 19-20 at Emerald Valley Golf Course.

Tiger junior Adele Gregory amassed a two-day total of 185 to finish 43rd among the 93-competitor field at the challenging course south of Eugene.

Gregory, according to sixth-year coach Brett Vernon, earned a spot in the state championships via a strong performance at a regional qualifier at Stone Creek Golf Course. The qualifier included golfers from NHS’ home league, the Pacific Conference, as well as from the Portland Interscholastic League and Metro League.

“She shot 91 and was 12th overall and was the second best automatic qualifier, once you take the players who automatically qualified already,” Vernon said.

At state, Gregory improved on her score from her sophomore campaign, when she shot a 186 and finished in 49th place at Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis in 2024.

Given the difficulty of the Emerald Valley course, Vernon was enthused about Gregory’s performance this year.

“This was a much tougher course than last year’s, so even though her score was only one shot better than the year before she played a lot better,” he said.

Team slowing growing in size and popularity

Gregory was among nine girls who turned out for golf at NHS this season. Even though the team took a step back in finishing fourth in the Pacific Conference in 2025 compared to second in 2024 and 2023, Vernon is optimistic about the team’s trajectory.

“We have grown the program a lot in the past six years,” he said. “After the COVID year (season canceled after two weeks) we only had one returning player. We have consistently stayed around seven to nine players over our time coaching.”

Practice makes perfect

Being in close proximity to one of the state’s top municipal golf courses doesn’t hurt the Tiger’s cause.

“Chehalem Glenn has been great. I work here at the course as our assistant pro and then my assistant coach is Kellan Sasken, who is our head golf professional here at Chehalem Glenn,” Vernon said. “Kellan and (Chehalem Park and Recreation District) have been great working with all high school and college golf (programs). Sherwood High School, Newberg High School; and George Fox all practice out here, and we hosted a Pacific Conference tournament as well as a Metro League high school golf tournament.”

Program moving forward every year

Vernon is optimistic that the program has continued to progress from year to year.

“We had a great year,” he said. “We only had two players returning with varsity experience and by the end of the year we fielded a full varsity team. We had two third-place finishes in our last two tournaments for the Pacific Conference. We reached and exceeded all our goals for the year, and we put ourselves into a good spot going into next year.”