Tuesday, April 24, 2018

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Placing all four scoring players within the top-five, Simon Fraser claimed its second conference title by a nine-stroke margin at the 2018 GNAC Men’s Golf Championships on Tuesday at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.

Highlighted by a 7-under par 276 in the first round, the Clan jumped out to a commanding 14-stroke advantage through the opening two rounds of play. Simon Fraser managed to shoot just four strokes over par on the final day to earn its second GNAC title in program history.

Western Washington’s Ethan Casto earned individual medalist honors after outshooting Simon Fraser’s Craig Titterington in a sudden-death playoff. Entering the final round four strokes off the pace, Casto ended the tournament with a 67 to force the extra hole.

Leading all players with a 4-under par 138 on the first day, Titterington led the Clan in second place with 209 strokes. Shooting a 69 in the first round, Sy Lovan finished the tournament in fourth place with a 2-over par 215.

After carding a tournament-low 5-under par 66 in the opening round, Simon Fraser’s Chris Crisologo ended the tournament tied with teammate Scott Kerr at 3-over par 216. 

Paced by the efforts of Casto and Brody Bonfilio, Western Washington took second place with a three-round total of 861. Despite carding a 7-over par 78 in the opening round, Bonfilio finished at 1-over par 214 for third place. He fired a 67 and 69 to close his first appearance at the championships. The duo also led the field with 14 and 13 birdies, respectively.

Nick Huff shot under-par in the final two rounds to end three strokes over par for a three-way tie with Crisologo and Kerr. He led Concordia’s efforts, which ended the tournament in third place at 21-over par 873. Jaxson Daskalos was the other Cavalier to finish within the top-10 as he claimed a ninth-place finish (5-over par 281).

Leading Northwest Nazarene to fourth place (901 strokes) was Henry Bernard, who carded 73’s in every round. Andrew Cortez was the second-highest Nighthawk finisher in 17th with a 226.

Andrew Raab was the highest Saint Martin’s finisher as he ended the event in eighth place (217). He led the Saints with team-high scores in every round. Montana State Billings rounded out the field at 907 and was led by Caleb Stetzner’s 10th place finish at 6-over par 219.