BLOOMINGTON, ILL. - As is customary, the Madison College golf team opened the spring season playing in cold and windy conditions as they took to the course at The Den at Fox Creek for the IVCC Challenge, a two-day tournament that host Illinois Valley Community College trimmed to a single day due to incoming bad weather for the scheduled second day. The WolfPack finished the day with a 356 team score to take tenth place in the 12-team event, with freshman Matt Paulson posting the team's top score with a ten-over-par 82.

Madison College was 14 shots back of ninth place, held by the host Eagles, but did out play Lewis University White by five and Lincoln College White by 20. Heartland Community College Blue took the team total with a 317. Teams three through nine were separated by just nine strokes in the final standings.

Paulson, a native of North Prairie, Wisconsin, matched the second-best score of his collegiate career despite a rough finish. Starting on the tenth hole, Paulson tallied three birdies on the back nine en route to a one-under-par 35. Still even and tied for second two holes into the front nine, he began to slide down the leaderboard with three consecutive, followed by double and a triple bogey ahead of two closing bogeys for a 47. The 82 put Paulson in a three-way tie for 15th and eight strokes back of medalist Brevin Knight from Heartland Community College.

Fellow freshman Jake Rebholz and Tyler Dahl each had one birdie and seven pars on the day. Rebholz struggled out of the gate with a 48 on the back nine (played first), but recovered to sign off on five of his pars and the birdie on the front side for a team-best 39 on the outward nine. His final score of 87 (+15) tied for 32nd place overall. Dahl nearly replicated his teammate on the pars and birdie, however, had a few more holes well above par to shoot a 93 (+21) and tie for 55th place.

Newcomer Darris Schuett, a New Glarus, Wisconsin, native, made his collegiate debut with a 94 (+22) that include a trio of pars and a tie for 57th. The WolfPack did not count Nicholas Kipp's score of 97 (+25) despite the freshman's six pars. Kipp, who missed a several fall season events due to injury, wound up tied for 63rd out of 67 golfers.

IVCC Challenge Final Results

Up Next:

Madison College travels to Galena, Illinois, on Tuesday, April 5 for the multi-team Clarke University Spring Invite. The tournament will be held at Galena Golf Club, where the WolfPack earned a tenth-place finish out of 11 teams in the Spring 2021 season. Tee times are schedule to begin at 10:00 a.m.

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