The Hillsdale College men's golf team hung tough and once again found itself near the top of the leaderboard at a critical invitational full of Midwest Regional foes in this weekend's Saginaw Valley St. Spring Invite at Kearney Hills Golf Links in Lexington, Kentucky.
Shooting a 291 in the first round on Saturday, Hillsdale went into the final day in second place behind leader and eventual winner Grand Valley State. A final-round 293 saw the Chargers slip to fourth in a tight field behind a hard-charging Trevecca Nazarene squad and a Ferris State squad that edged the Chargers by a single stroke, but Hillsdale still got several critical head-to-head wins on the day.
The Chargers were led by a career-best performance from fifth-year senior Ryan Zetwick, who shot a career-low final round of 68 that propelled him to fourth place, his best-ever individual finish. Zetwick made six birdies on Sunday, including a stretch of three straight on holes no. 5, 6 and 7 that helped push him to a score of 142 for both rounds.
Close behind was fellow senior George Roberts, who shot a 74-72-146 to finish tied for 11th and just miss his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
Gerry Jones Jr. shot a 73-76-149 to finish tied for 28th as well for the Chargers, and Josh Davenport and Will Verduzco each carded a two-day score of 150 to finish tied for 33rd as well.
Playing individually, Charger golfer Carson Stohler shot a 79-77-156 to finish tied for 77th as well for Hillsdale.
This weekend's performance helped solidify the Chargers' case to make the NCAA Division II regional field at the end of the year and earn a chance to compete for a spot at the Division II National Championship. The Chargers will get one more chance to add to their resume at the Ken Partridge Memorial Invitational hosted by Indianapolis on April 12, the last regular season event before the G-MAC Championships in late April.