Andrew Flint
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers continued their trend of getting better as a tournament goes on, improving by seven strokes on Day 2 of the Wittenberg Fall Invitational at Windy Knoll Golf Club. It wasn't enough, however, for the Tigers to pick up any hardware as they remained in fifth place.
Wittenberg can take solace in the fact that they posted a season-low score and were beaten by some top competition, including NAIA scholarship program Ohio Dominican, Ohio Athletic Conference powerhouse Otterbein, junior college power Owens Community College and perennial NCAA Division III title contender Centre. The Tigers finished with a two-day total of 597, 24 strokes behind Ohio Dominican, which wound up just five strokes over par as a team.
Otterbein's score of 581 was good for second place, powered by the blistering six-under-par 136 by medalist Heath Trabue. Owens finished third with 584 as Jason Smith carded a one-under 141 to place second individually, and the first of two Centre teams entered capped the weekend with a 590.
Wittenberg was led by sophomore Andrew Flint (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore), who placed sixth with a 144. If not for a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a hazard on Day 1, Flint would have posted back-to-back par-71 rounds.
Junior Garrett Smith (Powell, Ohio/Worthington Christian) was next with a 151 and junior Dan Buchan (Dublin, Ohio/Worthington Christian) was right behind him with a 152. Freshman Duncan Littlefield (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and junior Jeff Hochstetler (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) rounded out the first-team's top-50 finishers with scores of 155 and 156 respectively.
Wittenberg's B Team scored a 619, led by sophomore Steve Krehbeil (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) with a 152, good for 27th place. All 14 Wittenberg players on the roster participated in the tournament.