Erica Bodnar
The Wittenberg men's and women's golf teams continue to play
well as the season winds to a close. Both have shown marked
improvement during the season, with their best showings to date
coming last week.
The women hosted the first annual Wittenberg Invitational at Windy
Knoll Golf Club on April 14. The Tigers finished fourth in a 9-team
field that included the program's "B" team. Senior Erin
Mowrey (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) turned in the Tigers'
best finish, as she has in every event in their inaugural season,
as she finished 10th with a 95. As a team, Wittenberg finished with
a 407, good for fourth place in a field that included such
established programs as Wilmington, Otterbein, Findlay, Ohio
Northern and Capital.
Then on Friday and Saturday, the Tigers posted their best scores of
the year at the Mount Union Invitational. On Friday, the Tigers
carded their best team score ever with a 376 as all four players
broke the 100-stroke plateau. En route to a sixth place finish in a
strong nine-team field, Wittenberg had a two-day total of 775.
Mowrey took 11th with a two-day total of 177, including a
career-best 86 on the first day. Freshman Erica Bodnar
(Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) had her best score as she
finished with a 195, good for 31st place.
With no conference tournament and no chance of earning a spot in
the upcoming NCAA Division III Championships, the Tigers are
playing for pride as they wrap up the season this week at Otterbein
on Wednesday and at Baldwin-Wallace Saturday and Sunday.
On the men's side, the Tigers have posted good scores at each of
their last three weekend invitationals, taking third in the 10-team
field at the Kenyon Cup on April 4, eighth in a loaded 16-team
field at the Denison Invitational on April 10 and 5th in a strong
17-team field at the College of Wooster Invitational on April 17.
The Tigers have one more tuneup at Ohio Wesleyan this week before
the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, which figure to
be very competitive with five teams expected to challenge for the
title.
One of those is Wittenberg, buoyed by a strong finish at Wooster
last weekend. In a field that drew teams from three states and
included seven of the nine conference schools that sponsor the
sport, Wittenberg beat the host Scots and were just a few birdies
away from perennial powerhouses Denison and Ohio Wesleyan.
As they have all season, junior Andy Bonar (Lancaster,
Ohio/Lancaster) and freshman Scott Aker
(Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) led the charge. Bonar finished
fourth with an 8-over-par 152 for the two-day event and Aker,
despite turning in his first round over 79 all season, came in 16th
at 157.
Bonar and Aker are both up for consideration as at-large
competitors in the upcoming NCAA Division III championships hosted
by the University of the Redlands in Calimesa, Calif. Top finishes
in the next two weeks, while playing against ranked conference
opponents Ohio Wesleyan, Denison and Allegheny, will provide a good
indication of whether they belong or not.