After winning its first-ever Division I tournament a week ago, the Nicholls golf team finished seventh at the UNO-Brown/Sportscare Classic held March 12-13. The Colonels ended the tournament, which contained 17 teams, with a score of 609 in the 36-hole event.
“We did pretty well,” Nicholls head golf coach, James Schilling, said. “We used to not play well and finish last, but now when we do not play well we finish seventh out of 17 teams, and that’s positive.”
The Colonels finished 27 strokes behind first-place Jacksonville State University, and four strokes ahead of eighth-place, the University of Mobile.
“When I look at the 17 teams, we have some of the best golf teams in the country here (in the south),” Schilling said.
“A lot of northern teams can’t compete with the teams in the south, so anytime you can be competitive against decent clubs, its positive.”
Colonel Jacob Lipari paced Nicholls, as he shot rounds of 76 and 73, which was good for 11th place overall in the event.
“He is our No. 5 guy and he finished first on our team, and that was a great thing too see,” Schilling said.
Kevin Axford and Rod Lemoine rounded out the top three for Nicholls, as Axford shot a 79 and 72 to finish second on the team, while Lemoine shot a 76 and 77 to finish third on the squad.
The final two Colonel spots belonged to Chris Ohrn and Billy Rase, as Ohrn finished fourth with a 79 and 77, while Rase placed fifth with rounds of 86 and 80.
Individually, Axford finished tied for 22nd-place, while Lemoine finished tied for 28th. Ohrn and Rase finished tied for 42nd and 83rd place respectively.
Nicholls will return to action on March 19-20, when they take part in the Moe O’ Brien Invitational in Lake Charles.
Fellow Southland Conference opponent, McNeese State, will serve as the host team for the event.
“The tournament we just played in had a couple of teams finishing better than they have all year,” Schilling said.
“Hopefully we can have one of our best finishes when we travel to McNeese. I am looking for us to finish in the upper half.”
