Wheeling, W. Va. - For the second time this season, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team was the home team at an event. This time, the trip was to nearby Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where they co-hosted the Hannastown Invitational with regional opponent California University of Pennsylvania. The Cardinals sit eighth after 36 holes of competition, with a combined score of 606, and finished third among the fellow Mountain East Conference (MEC) teams in competition.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Elias Ekenes-Fosback, who sits 15th in the field with a two-round score of 149. It was a consistent day on the course for the freshman, who shot a 74 in the first round and was just one stroke different in the second round, shooting a 75. In round one, Ekenes-Fosback started strong with back-to-back pars and balanced out a bogey with a birdie to sit event after five holes. He would finish the front nine at +2 before adding two more birdies on the back nine, finishing +2 on that half. It put him at 74 (+4) as he finished his first round, and he looked to keep that success going in round two. It wasn't as fast of a start, as he added two strokes right away and sat at +4 with nine holes to play. The back nine served him well for the second straight round as he picked up two birdies and four pars to shoot +1. It brought his total score to 149. It was his best two-round performance of the season and he looks to climb into the top 10 on the final day of competition.
Finishing right behind him was Troy Loughry, who finished 28th overall with a two-round score of 151. His first round of action started with a bang as he hit back-to-back birdies to start his day. He would carry the momentum and finished the first eight holes at +1. The front nine was strong for him, shooting a +1 after finishing his day on hole one, and he would shoot 74 for the round. In round two, he was not able to add another birdie, but hit par 12 times in the round to finish at 77. Sitting right behind him was Lodin Femoen, who finished just outside the top 30, sitting 31st at 152. Femoen would play a strong first round, shooting birdie twice and finishing +5 at 75 to start his day. He finished out his day with a strong back nine in round two, where he shot +2 over his final nine holes, and finished the day with a 77.
Rounding out the team scoring portion of the event was graduate student Sean Dobson, who finished rounds one and two at 154. The graduate student had a strong showing on the front nine in both rounds, shooting +2 each time. He shot eight straight pars to start his event in round one and added a birdie in round two. However, it was the back nine that would be his downfall, as he posted scores of +4 and +6 respectively, putting him at +14 after two rounds of competition. Zak Collins was the final member of the varsity squad to compete on the day, shooting 162 between the two rounds of competition. His first round would be his strongest effort, where he picked up both of his pars at the event and shot +2 on the back nine, but finished with an 83 over the final 18 holes of competition.
Along with the team portion of the event, the Cardinals also had five golfers competing as individuals on the course. Brandon Lee would just miss the top 30, finishing 31st at 152, while the other individual golfers included Eirik Lindholm (59th, 158), Luke Wennberg (62nd, 159), Caleb Minson (74th, 163), Luis Alvarez (85th, 168), Lorenzo Lupi (88th, 171), and Vlad Zhang (89th, 172).
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action for round three of the Hannastown Invitational, with tee times beginning at 9:30 AM.
