Eagles Win First Division II Men's Golf Championship
At the Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Ind., the Kirkwood Eagles won their first-ever national title in program history. The Eagles moved to the top of the leaderboard midway through the second day and did not look back.
During Round 1, Kirkwood kept pace with the other front runners and ended the round in third, just three shots behind the leader (South Mountain (Ariz.)). Despite windy conditions in Round 2, the Eagles found some momentum to take the lead with a round-best 291. They held that lead through Round 3 and fought off a late push in Round 4 by Parkland (Ill.) to win the event by eight strokes.
Kirkwood finished 16-over and was the only team to shoot a sub-300 score in each round. Round-by-round they scored team totals of 284-291-294-299.
The Eagles had four individual golfers finish inside the top-50 and two inside the top-10.
Kolby Shackelford ended in fourth with a total of 286 and Nathan Bratanata tied for seventh with a 290. Grant Greazel tied for 23rd shooting 73-76-73-76 in the rounds, while Luke Evans finished in a tie for 27th place at a score of 300. The fifth golfer for Kirkwood, Taylor Crisp, tied for 48th after shooting a four-day 305.
DMACC placed eighth at this year's championship, which was their second-highest finish in school history. The Bears had three golfers finish inside the top 30 and ended 48-over with a final score of 1200.
Sam Vertanen and Ethan Gillis both tied for 27th (300) and Spencer Clatt tied for 30th (301), finishing just one stroke behind his teammates. Kaleb Allen shot 302 which landed him in a tie for 38th and Calvin McNeeley tied for 70th after shooting 313 in the rounds.
Iowa Lakes posted a top-15 finish while being 78-over which landed them in 13th place. As a team, they were in position to finish inside the top-10 in each round before falling to 13th in the final round. Janlo Zaayman led the way going 18-over which had him tied for 54th.
Kendall Nicolai was 19-over which was good enough for 56th place and Ciaran Jones tied for 66th after going 24-over. Lucas Gunderson tied for 91st while golfing 80-85-80-75 in the four rounds.
Northeast's Santiago Valdes, the North Central District Champion, tied 41st as an individual. The lone Northeast participant shot 71-76-82-74 and finished 15-over. Valdes was hanging around the top-25 until Round 3.
Sebastian Camacho was the other individual golfer from the ICCAC, as a member of the Southwestern golf team. The first three rounds were not so kind to Camacho with a mix of double-bogeys and very few pars. He picked it up on the last round, golfing his best of the event which placed him in a tie for 106th after shooting 83-86-84-77.
ICCAC Team Standings:
1. Kirkwood – 1168
8. DMACC – 1200
13. Iowa Lakes – 1230
(out of 22 teams)