FREEPORT, ILL. - The Madison College golf team pulled off a feat Friday at The Freeport Club that the program had not done since the Fall 2015 season: win a stroke-play event featuring three or more teams. The WolfPack shot a 325 to win the 2023 Highland Golf Spring Invitational by one shot over the host Cougars. Freshmen Braeden Skifton and Matt Sitte both earned top-five finishes with sub-80 rounds on a cool and windy afternoon.

Skifton, a native of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, recorded his first sub-80 round with a career-best 79. The seven-over-par tally tied him for second, and a scorecard tiebreaker gave him the runner-up position to mark the best individual placement by a WolfPack golfer in 2022-23. Sitte, a Wausua, Wisconsin, native playing as an individual, matched Skifton and Highland's Kotaro Kawasaki with a 79 of his own, and claimed fourth with the tiebreaker. The seven-over is Sitte's top score this spring and second-best 18-hole total of the season after a 74 in his debut 18 at the Highland "36" at Park Hills GC.

Madison College also counted a pair of nine-over 81's from fellow first year players Ethan Thomas and Brent Schmiesing to finish 6th and 7th, respectively. The final counted score was an 84 (+13) signed off on by Brady Callmer that earned ninth place overall. The Pack was able to toss out a 92 (+20) from sophomore Jake Rebholz. 

Tyler Koch also competed as an individual and shot 86 (+14) to place 16th. Madison College finished with two finishers in the top-five and five in the top-ten.

Highland Community College was second with a 326, followed by Black Hawk College at 332. Sophomore Luke Lofgren of BHC posted a four-over-par 76 to claim medalist honors.

The team score is the third best of the spring season and ties for the fifth best mark in 2022-23. It also gives coach Glenn Eichstedt his fourth event win since taking over the program in 2018, and his first-ever team title in a three-team-or-more stroke play event. The other wins under Eichstedt were the two-team College of DuPage Match Play and the four-team Match Play at the Chalet in the Fall 2021, the Midwest Elite Classic with Modified Stableford scoring in 2019, and the single-team 2018 NJCAA Region 4 Tournament. The last such victory for Madison College came at the 2015 NJCAA Region 4 Tournament, which was the third team victory of that season.

2023 Highland Golf Spring Invitational Final Results

Up Next:

Madison College competes in the two-day, 36-hole BSC Legends Classic hosted by Bryant & Stratton College on Thursday, April 27 and Friday , April 28. Round 1 will be played at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, starting at 11:00 a.m. The event concludes at The Bog in Saukville, Wisconsin, for an 8:30 a.m. tee time.

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