Monday, April 24, 2017

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Simon Fraser, Western Washington and Concordia took turns being atop the scoreboard on the first day of the 2017 GNAC Men’s Golf Championships, but it was Concordia that finished on top after two rounds with a score of 7-over-par 575.

Junior Nick Huff provided the surprise of the day, carding a 2-under-par 140 after two rounds to finish in third place. Huff led for most of the day before Simon Fraser’s Chris Crisologo recorded consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes in the second round. Crisologo finished the day atop the leaderboard at 5-under-par 137. Chris Hatch took second place with a 4-under-par 138 to lead Western Washington to second place as a team.

Concordia got a slow start to its second GNAC Championships, but rebounded to erase a deficit that was once as large as eight strokes. Nobody embodied that turnaround better than senior Jarred Gomez who needed eight strokes to get through the second hole, but went three strokes under par over the last 14 holes of the first round. Gomez finished the second round at 2-over-par 144 in a tie for seventh place.

Gomez and Huff were joined inside the top 10 by Dylan Cramer, who recorded consecutive birdies on the second and third hole in the second round to finish the first day at even-par 142 for fifth place. Tanner Huddleston also scored in the second round for the Cavaliers with a 1-over-par 72.

Western Washington finished the day at 13-over-par 581 for second place. Hatch was joined in the top 10 by Jeffrey Marcum, who shot an 4-over-par 146 to tie for ninth place. Hatch tallied five birdies in the second round to tie with Crisologo for the tournament’s lowest round.

Crisologo shot a 32 on the opening nine of the second round to help Simon Fraser finished the second round in third place, just a stroke behind Western Washington at 14-over-par 582. Simon Fraser had three players within one stroke of each other. Kevin Vigna and Craig Titterington tied for 14th place with a 7-over 149, while Marcus Brown was in a tie for 16th place at 8-over-par 150.

“It’s a long day, playing two rounds in a row,” Crisologo said. “I like to pace myself and make sure I still have energy on the 18th hole in the second round. In the second round, I learned from my mistakes and applied what I learned to the second round and it helped me out.”

Saint Martin’s took fourth place with a score of 18-over-par 586 with Austin Spicer leading the Saints with a fourth-place finish at 1-under-par 141. Trevor Frisby also finished inside the top 10 with a score of 3-over-par 145 for eighth place.

Northwest Nazarene was led by Justin Higgins in sixth place with a 1-over-par 143 and took fifth place as a team at 20-over-par 588. Jack Strickland finished in a tie for ninth place at 4-over-par 146 after scoring four birdies in the second round.

Montana State Billings’ Connor Miele led the field early in the event with three birdies in the first five holes, but it was Michael Porter who eventually led the Yellowjackets with a 5-over-par 147 for 11th place. As a team, the Yellowjackets stand at 38-over-par 606.