While they didn’t come off the course with the scores they’d hoped for over the weekend, Trinity Lutheran’s boys golf team feels its heading in the right direction.
Trinity finished third of seven full teams at its annual home tournament, the Cougars Invitational, on Saturday by shooting 374 strokes at Shadowood Golf Course.
Salem combined for the fewest strokes on the day by shooting 336, and Christian Academy of Indiana were runners-up at 367.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Oldenburg Academy was fourth (392), followed by Seymour’s ‘B’ team (442), Greenwood Christian Academy (446) and Jac-Cen-Del (491).
Both Union Dugger and Orleans didn’t field full teams.
Salem’s Isaiah Well, had a strong day on the links.
The Lions’ No. 4 golfer shot a 4-over-par 76 to take top medalist honors. Salem’s Zach Rowland was second medalist with a 79.
Noah Criswell led the Cougars’ charge, shooting 89 on the morning.
“I saw a lot of improvement in Noah,” Trinity coach Greg Personett said. “It might be a turning point for him. His focus towards the game is getting better. I’m’ really happy about that.”
Jacob Keith was next for Trinity with a 97, Mark Shoemaker and Ryland Nierman both shot 94s and Josiah Foster carded 104.
While the score is far from the Cougars’ season-best, Personett said he’s seeing his players develop.
“They did pretty good,” Personett said. “They’re all showing improvement. I think they all struggled a little bit with their short games, but overall I think our play was pretty good. The course played a little tough. It was cold and windy and the greens were incredibly fast.”
Going into the round, Personett said he wanted to see how the team reacted in tough situations.
“We’re a the mid-term here in the season,” he said. “I was looking for some improvement in the short game in particular. The conditions made it difficult for that.
I think our mental outlook was good today, though. Everyone was up. I thought i saw improvement there today. I told them what they needed to work on and they’re going to do it. This will take us a long way going into the end of the season because we’re striking the ball pretty decent.
While they didn’t have as many visiting teams in attendance this spring, Personett was pleased with how the tournament ran.
“Everything ran just fine,” Personett said. “Some of the teams could only bring four players, but the tournament went really well. I told the boys before the tournament that someone was going to shoot a good score. Those two boys from Salem plopped down some numbers. I was impressed.”
Seymour’s ‘B’ team was led by Tommy Hoffmeier’s 96. Brady Jackson (100), J.P. Nay (124), Luke Jackson (136) and Evan Vehslage (122) completed the SHS card. The Owls’ varsity lineup competed in the Bedford North Lawrence Invitational on Saturday.
Tonight, Trinity will get another shot at beating Salem, as the Lions will return to Shadowood for a dual meet while Seymour will host Colubmus East and New Albany on the other nine holes.