Playing in its first NCAA Regional tournament, the Hillsdale College golf team moved up from its day one performance to land in 13th after the two-day postseason event, held in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Hillsdale finished with a three-round score of 905, finishing tied for 13th with Southern Arkansas. The Chargers' scores improved significantly each day, going from 312 in the first round to 299 in the second round and 294 in the third round.
The top six teams all qualified for the NCAA championships: regional champ Lindenwood, Missouri-St. Louis, Ferris State, Arkansas Tech, Trevecca Nazarene and Grand Valley State. In addition, the top two individual golfers on a non-qualifying team also qualified for nationals - Hayden Foster and Zach James, both of Southeast Oklahoma State.
Hillsdale's first round as a team at the NCAA regional level saw the team fight the course. All five players scored 76 or above, but those represented numbers that improved significantly over the course of the event.
The top round of the regional among the Chargers was delivered by Ryan Zetwick, who fired a season-best 69 in Friday's third round. it was his first round of the season in the 60s. He had two previous rounds this spring of a 70 and a 71.
Zetwick, Josh Davenport and George Roberts all tied for the team lead with an overall score of 227. Roberts delivered a consistent three-round score of 76-72-79--227. Davenport led the team's improving numbers across the three rounds, carding scores of 81, 74 and 72 for a total of 227. Zetwick opened his tournament with a first-round 84, but cut an impressive 15 strokes off that score by the third round.
Senior Liam Purslowe closed out his impressive career with a 232, carding scors of 77, 81 and 74. Logan Anuszkiewicz shot a 238 for the tournament for Hillsdale.
PHOTO: Henderson State University