Men’s Golf Places Fifth at WNEC Invitational

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Elms College sophomore Phil Rurak (Wilbraham, Mass.) and freshman Kyle Simard (Thorndike, Mass.) each shot a round of 78 to lead the Blazers to a 321 team score and fifth place overall finish in Thursday's Western New England College (WNEC) men's golf invitational at Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Springfield, Mass.

Host WNEC won the event with a team score of 307, followed by Salem State University (308), Nichols College (314), University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (319) and Elms (321) to round out the top five finishers. Tufts University (323), Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) (327), Babson College (331), Springfield College (331), Westfield State University (335), Endicott College (340) and Wesleyan University (Conn.) (344) rounded out the 12 team field.

Matt Connolly of UMass Dartmouth garnered individual medalist honors with a one-over-par round of 73, while WNEC's Patrick Donahue finished a stroke behind with a 74. Jim Marzi of WNEC, Bryan Eger of Babson, Chris Berry of Salem State and Bill Connell of Salem State finished in a four-way tie for third place with rounds of 76.

After shooting a 42 on the first nine holes, Simard used a 36 on the back nine to notch his score of 78, while Rurak shot a 38 on the last nine holes en route to his round of 78 to lead the Blazers.

Sophomore Dan Costello (Brookfield, Conn.) shot a 37 over the first nine holes and finished two strokes behind Rurak and Simard with a round of 80, while freshman Tyler Cudnik (Hampden, Mass.) shot a 42 and 43 over the 18 holes to register a score of 85.

Senior Andrew Sullivan (West Springfield, Mass.) rounded out Elms' five golfers with a 40 on the front nine and a 46 on the back nine for a score of 86.

Elms is back on the links on Sunday, April 17-18 when it travels to Johnson & Wales University. Tee-time is to be determined.