Pride use strong second day to finish as team runner up at Clarke Fall Classic

GALENA, Ill. - For their first two-round tournament of the 2022-23 season, the Clarke University men's golf team moved up from fifth to second place at the Clarke Fall Classic on Friday and Saturday at Eagle Ridge Resort.

For Friday's first day at Eagle Ridge North Course, Clarke's top-five of Carter Ruegsegger, Logan Winn, Alex McLeland, Jared Martinson, and Jesse Frye all carded scores in the 80s but close together from 80 to 83 on a tought day at the North Course where the average score was over 85. 

On Saturday at the South Course, all five of the Pride's top-five improved on their score with the exception of McLeland carding a consistent 81 in each round to card a 162 as Ruegsegger went from 80 to 76 to finish tied for sixth place at a total of 156, Winn went from 80 to 78 for a tie for ninth at 158, Martinson improved three shots form 83 to 80 for a tie for 17th place finish of 163, and Frye shot 83 and 82 respectively to tie for 24th in the tournament.

CU's second unit also had improving scores from the first round to the second round led by Landon Joneson's five-shot improvement form 88 to 83 to lead the B team with a 171. Francis Ressureccion had the biggest improvement in score with an eight-shot bounce back from a 90 on Friday to shoot 82 on Saturday to finish at 172 as Alijah Dopson finished at 173 with an 87 and 86 respectively with Anthony Eddy carding matching 93s and Greg Witte rounding out the team with a 93 on Friday and a 95 on Saturday.

Mitchel Coffey was the lone Clarke individual to complete both rounds, finishing with a 192 after rounds of 97 and 95, as both Vincent Forseth and Alex Beard both had to withdraw during the second round.

The team winner of the tournament was Hawkeye Community College as they went 306-316 to finish with a 622 over CU's 639 as the Pride tied with Hawkeye's B team for runner-up as a team. Hawkeye's Luke Galeazzi also won the individual tournament with a 72 at the North Course and a 75 at the South Course to earn a two-stroke win over Wheaton College's Jonah Swartz.

Clarke men's golf will continue a four rounds in four days as they will begin the two-round Loras Invite on Sunday starting at Woodbine Bend.