Owls claim back-to-back tournament titles

CHARDON, Ohio — With a team total of 600 strokes, the Kenyon College men’s golf team won the Dan Caschera Classic, a two-round, 13-team tournament at Sand Ridge Golf Club hosted by John Carroll University.

It was the second straight tournament win for the Owls, who last week earned the top spot in the University of Rochester’s Fred Kravetz Invitational. 

The Kenyon men started the first round of the Classic on Sunday and posted a team score of 301 on the par-72, 6,698-yard track. That gave the Owls a seven-stroke lead over John Carroll’s ‘A’ team, which held second place with 308 swings. 

Monday, during the second round, the Owls did not let up. They scored a 299 and distanced themselves by 23 strokes from the John Carroll ‘A’ team, which slid into third place with a final score of 623. The John Carroll ‘B’ team wound up moving into second place with a final total of 617, 17 shots back of Kenyon.

The Owls, who are ranked No. 21 in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek DIII Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the Scoreboard Powered By Clippd Ranking, were led by first-year Jaiden Koonar. He shot an even-par 72 on Sunday and then a two-over 74 on Monday. His two-day total of 146 gave him an individual runner-up finish, just one shot behind medalist Brian Myers of University of Mount Union.

Koonar, who totaled six birdies throughout the two rounds, became the third different golfer, over the last three weeks, to lead the team in scoring.

Sophomore Will Hulsey was not far off Koonar’s pace, as he fired rounds of 74 and 75 for a 149 that placed him third on the individual leaderboard. His scorecard for the two-day Classic included seven birdies.   

First-year Jonathan Oakes was up next for the Owls. He finished in a tie for sixth-place in the 75-man field after carding a 78 on Sunday and a 75 on Monday.

Junior Armand Ouellette, who led Kenyon last week, traded turns with senior Garrett Thesing as the team’s fourth scoring golfer. Ouellette counted a 77 on Sunday and Thesing counted a 75 on Monday. Ouellette ended up with a two-day total of 154, which placed him in a tie for eighth, while Thesing’s final total was a 158, which landed him in a tie for 25th place.

The Owls are heating up at the right time. They have just one more tournament to play before they turn their attention to the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship. That one tournament is the Denison University Spring Shootout, a one-round event taking place Sunday at Denison Golf Club.

The NCAC Championship will be held May 3-5 at Westfield Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio.