Men’s golf completes season with sixth-place GPAC finish

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The 2014-15 campaign concluded for Concordia University men’s golf at Landsmeer Golf Course in Orange City, Iowa, on Monday with the team’s lowest round of the spring season. The Bulldogs carded a 306 at GPAC Qualifier No. 4, finishing fourth on the day and sixth overall with a four-round GPAC score of 300-312-337-306–1,255. It marked an improvement of 58 strokes and two positions within the conference standings compared to the 2013-14 season.

Individually, freshman Russell Otten captured the highest finish among Bulldogs on the overall leaderboard. He placed 11th with a four-round total of 74-75-83-77–309. Sophomore Reid Wiebe tied a team conference qualifier low with a two-over-par 73 on Monday and completed his first Bulldog season in a tie for 16th place (75-82-82-73–312) in the conference. Making his final collegiate appearance, two-time all-conference performer Shawn Rodehorst (73-79-86-75–313) fell next in line with his 18th-place claim.

Muller was pleased to see each of his top three players return to shooting scores in the 70s.

“Today we performed at about what our average from the fall was,” Muller said. “It was good to see we still had that in us and were able to do it at a GPAC qualifier. We passed Dordt and moved to sixth and really salvaged the second semester.”

Rodehorst, who broke the program record for lowest single-season average (75.15) as a sophomore, recorded conference finishes of 18th, eighth, 21st and 18th, respectively, during his four-year stay that helped make Concordia a serious threat within the GPAC.

“Shawn was a staple the last four years,” Muller said. “He played at No. 1 for us and was all-GPAC the past two years. He’s a leader on and off the course. It’s great to have a guy like that in your program. It was really nice to see him go out on a high note.”

The final two spots in Monday’s Concordia lineup were filled by sophomore Jared Knoepfel (81) and freshman Tyler Ehresman (82). In two conference qualifier appearances, Knoepfel totaled a 167. Ehresman played in all GPAC meets except for No. 3 and carded scores of 78, 77 and 82.

The 2014-15 Bulldogs finished with a season average of 317.3 over 15 rounds. They turned in a season low 300 in back-to-back meets in the fall, including GPAC Qualifier No. 1 (Sept. 19).

With Rodehorst the only member of the varsity lineup set to move on, Concordia has high hopes for what the 2015-16 season will bring.

“With everyone coming back except for Shawn we expect to continue to move forward,” Muller said. “We have a recruit coming in we’re very excited about who will be in the mix for our top five. It should help us be better and make our practices even more competitive.”

Northwestern claimed the GPAC title with its cumulative score of 309-299-312-287–1,207. Individual medalist honors went to the Red Raiders’ Justin Kraft (73-72-76-71–292).