Saturday, April 17, 2010

Valparaiso finished up action at the Detroit Titans Invitational on Saturday with a 13th place finish after shooting 313 in the final round at Prestwick Village Golf Club in Highland, Mich.

The Crusaders finished the tournament at 940, just one shot behind Humber and five in back of Canisius.

“Today wasn’t a bad day,” head coach Mike Higdon said.  “We beat four other teams for the round.  We shot ourselves in the foot yesterday with the second round.  That round has been our nemesis all year.  With today’s weather conditions (snow early, cold), we played okay.”

Josh Kalita (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.) shot Valpo’s low round of the day on Saturday with a 77, his best of the tournament, to finish the two days at 241.  Brad Winters (Elgin, Ill./Saint Edward H.S.) and Andy Webb (Bedford, Ind./North Lawrence H.S.) each added a 78 in the final round.  Winters led the Crusaders for the tournament at 229 to tie for 30th over the 7,142-yard, par-72 layout.  Webb finished at 243.

Austin Gaugert (Lake Geneva, Wis./Badger H.S.) and Andrew Beischl (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay H.S.) each shot 80 on Saturday to finish at 234 and 239 respectively.

“Our goal is to have all four counting scores in the 80s,” Higdon added.  “We just missed today.”

Green Bay won the team title by 12 shots at 880 while the Phoenix’s Austin Ehlenfeldt was the overall medalist at one over par 217.

Valparaiso will close out the season next Monday and Tuesday, April 26-27, at the Horizon League Championships.  The event will take place at Kearney Hills Golf Course in Lexington, Ky.  Monday’s first two rounds will begin at 7 a.m. CDT with the final round slated for the same time on Tuesday.

“This is pretty exciting with it being our first time in the championships,” Higdon concluded.  “I am hoping we can work hard this week and we can control our emotions.  We’re looking for our best rounds of the year next week.”