Men's Golf Wins 2010 NECC Championship

Click here for complete results

LEICESTER, Mass. - The Elms College men's golf team earned the 2010 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship hosted by Becker College at Leicester Country Club on Sunday. 

The Blazers, who entered Sunday's second round action with a nine-stroke advantage, totaled a team score of 313 finishing with a two-round combined score of 619, two strokes ahead of Babson College (621). Babson and Springfield College (622) rallied to shoot team scores of 305 and 307 on Sunday and cut into Elms' lead. Becker finished fourth (666), Daniel Webster College placed fifth (684), Mitchell College came in sixth (749) and Newbury College scored an 848 to round out the seven team field.

Babson's Joseph Young (Westwood, Mass.) earned individual medalist and NECC Player of the Year honors after carding a one-over-par 71 on Sunday to finish with a 145 for the two-day event. Springfield's Craig DiFranco (East Longmeadow, Mass.) finished second overall with a total score of 149 while Elms' sophomore Phil Rurak (Wilbraham, Mass.) notched a third-best score of 150 for the two days.

Freshmen teammates Henry Fall (Harpswell, Maine) and Kyle Simard (Thorndike, Mass.) finished in a tie for fourth place with combined scores of 153 both shooting a 76 on day one and 77 on day two. Sophomore Anthony Roberts (Ludlow, Mass.) tied for 14th overall with a total score of 166 while senior Andrew Sullivan (West Springfield, Mass.) came in two strokes behind him with a two-round score of 168 and a share of 17th place.

Elms, Babson and Springfield placed each of their four scoring golfers in the top 15 overall individually.

Blazers' head coach Craig Cowles was named the NECC Coach of the Year as voted upon by member head coaches while Rurak and Simard were named First Team All-NECC. Fall garnered Second Team All-NECC honors.

Fall and Simard joined Springfield's Kyle DiFranco (East Longmeadow, Mass.) in four extra holes to determine the league's rookie of the year with DiFranco prevailing.

The Blazers will travel to Emmanuel College for a tri-match with Daniel Webster College on Tuesday, Oct. 12. Tee off is set for 12:00 p.m.