PORTLAND, Maine – Freshman
Sean Bonneau shot a four-over 74 on Friday to finish in sixth place individually at plus-10 (150) over two days as the Keene State College men's golf team finished second in their second-ever season at the LEC championships held at the Riverside Golf Course, hosted by the University of Southern Maine.
Bonneau had shot a 76 on Thursday and improved his score by two strokes today, including birdies on holes 13 and 15, the latter of which he carded a double bogey on in his first try. He also shot a 36 (+2) on the front nine after a 38 on those same holes yesterday and wound up finishing as the best-scoring freshman in the conference and earned Second Team All-Conference honors along with
Aysen Chancey, who finished at plus-16 and in a tenth place tie with a 156 (+16).
"Sean had a great few days. His future is bright at KSC," said Keene State head coach Jeff Timmer. "He found a way to recover today even when he was out of position on a few holes, so I was impressed with his determination all week. Ace (Chancey) also showed a lot of competitiveness this week as a freshman. Neither one of them gave in to bad shots or bad holes, just kept fighting to the end. Ace's future is very bright also."
A year after having just one golfer (
Caden Capaldo, sixth) in the top 22, the Owls placed all of their entries in the top 14, with
Cade Williams in 13th at 159, and
Sean McCaffrey in 14th at 160.
Keene State shot a 313 (+33) on the second day as a team, one stroke higher than Thursday's first round when they recorded a 312. They began the morning nine strokes behind Eastern Connecticut State University, but the Warriors won a third straight title by pulling away with a 287 score (+7), 16 shots better than their Thursday score. Ashton Lewis, who entered the day with a 76 (+6), finished with an impressive 65 (-5) to defend his individual championship, finishing at plus-one (141). He won by five strokes over Vermont State University Castleton's Brady Hathorn (+6, 146) and Jasper Bruins Slot of Rhode Island College (+6, 146), with the latter the leader entering the day but falling down the ranks after a plus-six 76.
The Owls entered the day nine strokes ahead of third place and finished eight ahead of VTSU Castleton, who improved by nine shots from day one to finish in third with a 633. Southern Maine came in with a 643 in fourth, and was followed by Rhode Island College (645) and Western Connecticut State University (655).
Keene State totaled nine birdies over the two days (four Thursday, five Friday) as a team, nine from the leader (Eastern Connecticut) who had 18 (10 today). Castleton had 14 (nine on day one).
Despite ECSU pulling away on the second day, the Owls finished 79 strokes better than a year ago and entered with two freshmen and a sophomore comprising their group of golfers at the event.
"We fought hard today. It wasn't easy all the time for us, but the players did a great job holding it all together," added Timmer. "Congrats to ECSU, they were really good today and separated themselves from the field."
"We made a great leap forward this year as a team, and we are young. So now we need to focus on getting better to compete for a championship next year."
Keene State's season continues at the 4th annual Warrior Invitational at the Tumble Brook Country Club in Bloomfield, Conn. on October 14 at 11:00 a.m.
