Pride men's golf closes 2023-24 with program low round

MORAVIA, Iowa - Finishing up a three-round in two-day event in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships, the Clarke University men's golf team was able to close their 2023-24 season on a high note with a program low team round of 294 in the third round on their way to a ninth place finish.

Prior to Tuesday's 294, the Pride put up a pair of Monday rounds at 315 for the first round and 314 in the second round, placing 10th after two rounds as their final round score would allow CU to jump up to ninth place, two strokes ahead of Graceland University, who were up nine strokes on Clarke entering Tuesday.

Junior Jacob Luett would finish his strong first season at Clarke with an All-Heart selection following his 23rd place finish in the tournament with a 75-78-70=223 (+7) with that third round 70 (-2) being a career-low round for Luett.

Joining Luett with career-low rounds to close out their 2023-24 campaigns were Alijah Dopson and Jesse Frye, who both fired matching 73 (+1) scores on Tuesday as Dopson would finish tied for 39th at 78-79-73=230 (+14) and Frye would end the tournament tied for 44th at 87-84-73=244 (+28).

Playing the final rounds of their collegiate careers, Jared Martinson and Logan Winn would round out the scoring for the Pride as Martinson played consistent over his three rounds at 79-77-78=234 (+18) and Winn finished tied for 44th along with Frye with his 83-80-81=244 (+28).

The battle for the team championship came down to the wire as both Park University and MidAmerica Nazarene University had four golfers within the top-seven scores of the individual competition to finish one stroke apart for the Pioneers to edge out the Pirates by one team stroke for the championship at 846 (-18) compared to 847 (-17) for the Pirates.

Park's Guillermo Cervantes earned the individual championship by two strokes over MNU's Josh Killingsworth as Cervantes would go 68-72-69=209 (-7) to lock up a trip to the NAIA Championship if the Pirates would not be selected as an at-large team.

With their ninth place finish, the Pride would lock up their best finish at the Heart Championships since the 2020-21 season where they also finished in the ninth spot by tournament's end.