WNEC Earns Blazers Invitational Championship
WNEC EARNS BLAZERS INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
CHICOPEE, MA, Sept. 20, 2006 - Elms
College junior Neil Daigneault (Ludlow, MA) fired
a school-record-tying round of 1-under par 70, Western New England
College had four golfers shoot in the mid-70's en route to earning
team championship honors in the 11-team Blazers Invitational men's
golf tournament at Chicopee Country Club on Wednesday afternoon.
Senior E.J. Czajkowski (Burlington, CT), sophomore Mark Waskiewicz (Hadley, MA) and sophomore Steve Rourke (Nashua, NH) all tied for fifth overall with solid rounds of 4-over par 75 to pace the Golden Bears to a team score of 301.
Husson College (306), Castleton State College (315), Brandeis University (319), UMass-Dartmouth (320), Elms College (321), Suffolk University (332), Rhode Island College (335), Becker College (354), Green Mountain College (373) and Mitchell College (408) rounded out the 11-team field.
Castleton junior Bryan Smith (St. Albans, VT) matched Daigneault's 1-under 70 to force a playoff. On the first playoff hole, the par-4 1st, Daigneault's tee shot went out of bounds, while Smith put his drive down the center of the fairway.
Smith then dropped a 5-iron from 170 yards out to within six feet of the cup and two-putted for par to earn individual medalist honors in the 54-player field.
Daigneault carded his school-record-tying round of 70 with four birdies, including two in the final three holes as he fired a 2-under 33 in the back nine.
Junior Lance Libby (Oakland, ME) carded a 2-over par 73 to place third overall and junior Adam Duplisea (Hermon, ME) added a 3-over 74 to finish fourth for Husson, which had all five of its players place among the top 16.
Brandeis sophomore Alex Podell (Los Angeles, CA) recorded a 5-over 76 to tie for eighth with WNEC sophomore Mike Roy (Plymouth, MA) and UMass-Dartmouth's Tyler Kett finished with a 77 to finish 10th.
Junior Jim Hurlbut (Roxbury, MA) and freshman
Ben Kwiatkowski (Chicopee, MA) carded rounds of 81
for the host Blazers.
Elms College returns to action at the Williams Invitational on Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24.