The Mercyhurst men’s golf team hosted their Spring Invitational on Sunday, April 17 ,and Monday, April 18, where seven teams competed in a 72 par course at Lake View Country Club in North East, Pa.
In the first day, Mercyhurst finished in first place with 299 (+11) with freshman Harison Laskey leading the team, finishing the first round 72 (E). Other top scorers for the Lakers were senior Blaze Hogan and junior Chris Kupwinewski tied at 3rd (74 + 2 each) and freshman Lester Lancaster at 7th (74 +2).
Behind Mercyhurst, Roberts Wesleyan College (302) finished 2nd, Penn State Behrend (306) finished 3rd, Gannon (308) finished 4th and Humber College (315) finished 5th.
On day two, the 38 golfers took over the course one more time. However, the teams’ results were different. The Lakers were not able to keep their lead and finished 2nd (299, 304: 603) behind the Gannon Golden Knights (308, 294: 602).
On the other hand, Roberts Wesleyan College dropped to third place (302, 307: 609), Humber College finished 4th (315, 307: 622) and Penn State Behrend, 5th place (306, 320: 626).
On the individual front, Laskey kept his lead, taking first place after beating Gannon’s Matt Barto. Laskey reached victory by making a par on the 18th hole. This is his first personal collegiate athlete title. Hogan (74, 75: 149+5), Michael Young Jr (79, 70:149) from Roberts Wesleyan College and Daegan Wall (78, 71:149, +5) tied for 3rd place .
The men’s golf team is ranked 3rd in the Atlantic Region, which is more than enough to participate in the NCAA Division II Atlantic/East Regional which will take place Monday, May 2, through Wednesday, May 4. Nonetheless, Mercyhurst was already qualified since they won the Pennsylvania Athlete Conference (PSAC) this past fall.