News

By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter

The Montcalm Community College Centurions men’s golf team finished fifth at the Oakland Community College Invitational, Friday, Sept. 19. 

Competition was stiff among the nine teams that competed at the invitational, which was held at the Fieldstone Golf Club in Auburn Hills, Mich., with Mott Community College taking first place with a score of 308, followed by Delta College, 320, and Schoolcraft, 321. 

MCC finished with a score of 326, beating out Oakland, which finished at 330. 

Centurions head coach Doug Harkema brought eight of his golfers to compete in the invitational. Freshman Evan Munoz (Battle Creek, Mich.) led all Centurions with a score of 80, which was good for 15th place among qualifying scorers.  

Rounding out the rest of the scorecard for MCC were sophomore Mason Blair (Holt, Mich.), 81; sophomore Kenny Mitchell (Cedar Springs, Mich.), 82; Ryan Clingenpeel (East Lansing, Mich.), 83; and freshman Ethan Wempen (Hartsburg, Mo.), 88. 

Centurions golfers who competed individually were freshmen Joey Mario (Battle Creek, Mich.), 78, who finished eighth overall individually; Landon Elder (Louisville, Ky.), 82; and Chase Couchman (Holly, Mich.), 79.  

With the team having enjoyed so much success in the spring season, finishing no worse than second place, a fifth-place finish was a bit disappointing, said Blair, last week’s MCCAA Western Conference Player of the Week.  

“Nothing was really that difficult about the course,” he said. “It just wasn’t our day. That’s golf.” 

Harkema said his team just had bad play all around. 

“Golf is hard,” he said. “It just seemed like we all had a bad day on the same day, which doesn’t happen often. But our young players are gaining experience in every match.” 

Perhaps another obstacle that was in MCC’s way in this invitational was rustiness, Harkema said, since it had been two weeks since his players competed in their last meet. 

With a quick turnaround, the Centurions are preparing to compete in the Henry Ford College Invitational at Lakes of Taylor Golf Course in Taylor, Mich., Monday, Sept. 22. Blair is confident the Centurions can perform better, as long as they do what they know they can do. 

“I don’t think we need to change anything,” Blair said. “This team is really good at what we do. We’re not going to let one tournament define us.” 

Harkema will remind his players to keep loose and, above all, enjoy themselves. 

“The biggest thing for them is to just have fun,” Harkema said. “I’m going to tell them to not let a bad shot get you into what you felt the other day at WSU. Like I said, golf is hard and sometimes it doesn’t’ work out. But we still have our goals in front of us and I think we’ll get back on track and play pretty well.” 

OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE INVITATIONAL 

TEAM RESULTS 

Mott 308 

Delta 320 

Schoolcraft 321 

SC4 322 

Montcalm 326 

Oakland 330 

Henry Ford 338 

Muskegon 353 

Kirtland 363