Johnstown, PA. – After starting the year with back-to-back Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournaments, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team took on their first regional tournament on Monday. The team traveled to nearby Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where they competed in the Sunnehanna Invitational, competing in an 18 team field. The teams completed most of the first two rounds on Monday before the darkness crept in, and the Cardinals would sit sixth after 36 holes with a team score of 531 with all but two holes left to play in round two.
Leading the effort for the Cardinals was Lodin Femoen, who sits tied for eighth as he continues his strong fall season. He would get things going with a bang in round one, setting a PR shooting 70 (E), and with one hole left in the second round, has bettered that score sitting at -1. He began his day on the back nine, and shot a birdie on hole 10 to start the day, and continued the consistency throughout the back nine. He would shoot par on each of the next eight holes and as he hit the turn was sitting at one under par. He would drop his score to -2 with a birdie on hole one and after adding two strokes to his score, finished the round out balancing a bogey with a birdie on hole nine. In the second round, he would lower his score even further on the back nine, shooting three under par with three birdies, and added six pars on the front nine, sitting at -1 as he heads into the final hole.
Finishing right behind him was freshman Cormac Pearson, who just cracked the top 40 with a two-round score of 134 with four holes left in the second round. He would also have a strong round to open the day, equaling Femoen's score of 70 (E) through the first 18 holes. He would start his day on hole nine and shot back-to-back pars before registering his first birdie of the round on hole 11. It was the first of two birdies in the round, and four birdies total between his 32 holes played. Rounding out the top three for the Cardinals was Zac Collins, who sits tied with Pearson with three holes to go in round two. After shooting a 72 (+2) in the first round, Collins got off to the best start of the day for the Cardinals on the back nine of round two. After shooting par on hole one, he would record his first Eagle of the season on hole 10, and rode that momentum to shoot -1 on the back nine. He would continue that success onto the front nine, shooting three straight pars and, as he heads into hole seven, he sits at +3 looking to lower his score.
Rounding out the team scoring in the event is graduate student Sean Dobson, who sits tied for 60th with a 137 with four holes left in round two. Dobson, who has led the Cardinals throughout the fall season, shot a 74 (+4) in the first round and continued that trend into round two, sitting at +4 with four holes to play. He would shoot one birdie in the first round, and has added 11 pars so far in the second round heading into day two. The final team golfer for the Cardinals was Brandon Lee, who tied for a top spot in the first round, shooting a career-best 70 (E) through the first 18 holes. He hit two birdies in that first round, but with four holes to go in round two, he sits at +11 as he looks to get back on track. The independent Cardinal on the course was Elias Ekenes-Fosback, who sits tied with Dobson at 137. He would end up shooting the lowest first round score, putting together a 69 (-1) through the first round including three birdies. He currently has three holes to play in round two, sitting at +8, and he looks to finish strong ahead of round three.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action for round three of action on Tuesday, September 29, with tee times beginning at 10 AM.
