FREEPORT, ILL. - Friday's season-opening performance by the Madison College men's golf team was unprecedented. For the first time in team history, the WolfPack's four-person Navy squad won the team title at the Highland "36" Invitational at Park Hills Golf Course with a school-record 36-hole total of 599. Freshman
Deegan Riley led a contingent of Pack players among the Top 12 with a 145 score that tied him for second individually. The win marks the second for coach
Glenn Eichstedt in a stroke-play event featuring three or more teams, with the prior victory coming in this past April at another Highland Community College-hosted event at a different course in Freeport.
Madison College Navy opened with a 294 on the first 18, a mark that is two shots back of the program's all-time record and ranks third in school history. A back-and-forth second round saw the WolfPack move up from third to first midway through and eventually build a four shot lead with a 305. Illinois Central College was second with a 603 total. Madison College Grey finished eighth with a 646 score, posting 18-hole totals of 320 and 326.
Riley, a native of Milton, Wisconsin, shot two-over 74 with three birdies to begin the day before putting together a stretch of six birdies over eight holes for a minus-one 71 that included a front-nine score of four-under 32. The 145 (+1) in his collegiate debut was not enough to catch ICC's Hunter Ficken, who finished three shots better with a 142 (-2) after opening the day at four-under 68.
Fellow freshmen
Jacob Brown (Navy) and
Henry Pickhardt (Grey) were right on Riley's heels with six-over-par 150 to finish in a four-way tie for fifth place. Both players posted identical rounds of 71-79 with Brown, a former Union Grove HS athlete, signing off on two birdies and an eagle, and Pickhardt, one of three former Madison Memorial HS players on the WolfPack roster, notching seven birdies.
The rest of the Navy team included sophomores
Brady Callmer and
Brent Schmiesing placing in the Top 12. Callmer tied for ninth at 151 (+7), using six birdies to card rounds of 75-76. Schmiesing, a returning All-Region 4 player, went 74-79 for a two-round total of nine-over 153 to tie for 11th. He also had six holes of better than par scoring.
Madison College Grey was paced by Pickhardt, and added a 157 (81-76/+13) by
Sam Godager to tie for 22nd, a tie for 42nd at 164 (82-82/+20) from
Alex Sutter, and a 175 (86-89/+31) that tied for 78th by
Sam Knight.
In all, the WolfPack signed off on 11 sub-80 rounds with Navy averaging 74.8 strokes and Grey at 80.7.
Highland "36" Invitational Final Results
Up Next:
Madison College will play another 36 holes, only this time over two days, with the Culver's Edgewood College Fall Classic at Glen Erin Golf Club in Janesville, Wisconsin, on September 1-2. Friday's shotgun start begins at 11:00 a.m., with Round 2 on Saturday scheduled to get underway at 8:30 a.m.
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