BARRE, Vt. – Freshman
Jaxson Roenick (Exeter, N.H.) paced the Keene State College men's golf team with an 83 to finish in a tie for 12th place individually while the Owls finished in a fifth-place tie as a team at the Tony Mariano Invitational hosted by Norwich University at the Country Club of Barre Wednesday.
All five KSC golfers finished within a four-stroke radius of each other, with Roenick parring seven holes including four straight (14 through 17) on the back nine. He carded a 42 on the front nine and a 41 on the back, finishing plus-12 in his first collegiate match. It is the second straight invitational to kick off the season where a KSC rookie playing in their first match for the team has led the way after
Aidan Davis shot an 81 on Sunday at the New England College Invitational.
Ace Chancey finished with an 84 to finish in a tie for 21st,
Sean Bonneau an 85 to finish in 25th with four others, Matt Bryant an 86 to finish in a deadlock for 30th, and
Aidan Davis an 87 to finish in a tie for 32nd.
New England College's Timothy Carlson birdied three of the first eight holes and took home the individual medal, shooting an even par 71, two strokes better than the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Matthew Gover – both of which came on the last hole. Gover finished a double bogey on 18 and came up short despite leading the field in birdies with four. Gordon College won the team title with a combined 309 (+25) and four finishers in the top ten, exactly one shot better than NEC (310, +26). KSC finished with a 338 as a group.
There were 19 birdies carded among the top 10 finishers and an eagle three by Cooper Bertrand (Norwich), who finished plus-4, on the par-5 fifth.
"It was a good debut for Jaxson and I know he will just get better," said Owls head coach Jeff Timmer. "As a team we were a little better, but we need to be more consistent. We still have too many really bad holes."
KSC struggled with the par-4 third, posting two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey to nullify Chancey's par. Triple bogeys on No. 2 and No. 17 also hurt Keene State's score. As a group, the Owls shot 11 strokes better on the back nine as opposed to the front nine.
The Owls travel to Ellington, Conn. for the 5th annual Warrior Invitational hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday, September 17 at 1:30 p.m.
