William Penn Hits Links at Northwest Iowa National Invite

Le Mars--The Statesmen men's golf team spent Monday and Tuesday on the course, competing in the Northwest Iowa National Invitational.

WPU placed 12th out of 12 teams with a three-round score of 926 (320-307-299) at the par-71 Willow Creek Golf Club.  At 859 (301-282-276), #18 Texas Wesleyan held off #7 Ottawa (Ariz.) by two strokes for the team victory.

Juan Ricardo Davila Bone of Texas Wesleyan won the individual crown with a score of six-under 208 (75-68-65).

Austin Hafner (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sports Management) guided the navy and gold, tying for 23rd in the 62-player field at 222 (77-73-72).  His tournament experience featured seven birdies.

Andon Herrera (Fr., Katy, Texas, Business Management), who also had seven birdies, tied for 33rd overall at 226 (75-78-73).

Luke Galeazzi (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Business Management) tied for 44th (81-76-73--230), but had the most memorable tournament as he recorded a hole-in-one Tuesday on Hole 13.  The junior also had five other birdies during the event.

Francois Assaud (Jr., Montelimar, France, Sports Management) was next at 248 (87-80-81) to place 61st (four birdies), while Nicholas Moore (Fr., Hurst, Texas, Business Management) was 62nd at 253 (91-81-81) with a quartet of birdies.

"We received a last-minute call-up for this fantastic event," Head Coach Elise Warne said.  "Clearly, this is not the result we wanted, but we had a great, gritty performances from our top three players--Austin, Andon, and Luke.  We are a young team right now and we are learning what it takes to execute in big tournaments like this.  I am still very bullish about this squad."

Next Up: William Penn takes two weeks off before traveling to Columbia, Mo. on October 2-3 to compete in the Columbia Cougar Classic.  Play will be contested at the Columbia Country Club.