GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers' spring season continued to hum along with a first-place finish at Denison's Ted Barclay Invitational. The first-place trophy was Wittenberg's third tournament title in a row since the start of the spring portion of the campaign and the fifth overall in the 2013-14 season.
Wittenberg also defended its title in the Ted Barclay Invitational. A year after posting scores of 295 and 291 to win the event by 13 strokes over Ohio Wesleyan, the Tigers finished with matching rounds of 295 for a total of 590 and a 13-stroke victory over the host Big Red.
The field included seven of the 10 teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), with league foes taking the top four positions. The teams will renew acquaintances in two weeks in the first of two championship series events. DePauw will host the first two-day event April 26-27 and Wabash will host the second May 3-4.
The key for Wittenberg was consistency, as evidenced by the matching team rounds. Junior Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) led the Tigers with rounds of 74 and 73 to finish fourth with a score of 147. He was followed by a trio of teammates in a tie for fifth place.
Junior John Chaney (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Gilmour Academy), senior Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster) and senior David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) each took different routes to a two-round total of 148 at the par-71, 6,559-yard Granville Golf Course. Sophomore Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) rounded out the Wittenberg scorers in 19th place with a score of 154.
The story doesn't end there, however, as seven other Wittenberg players were entered in the 66-player field. Junior Jared Wissinger (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby) posted scores of 73 and 71, the low round for any player in the field, to take medalist honors with a two-day total of 144. He was followed by freshman Sam Stilwell (Sterling, Va./Dominion) in third place with a score of 146, freshman Garrett Brickley (Pickerington, Ohio/North) in 17th place with a 152 and junior Jack Uecker (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) in 19th with a 154.