YORKVILLE, Ill. - For the fifth time in its last five trips to the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men's Golf Championship, the Carthage Firebirds men's golf team secured a second-place finish. Carthage trailed only the impenetrable Illinois Wesleyan University Titans, who have now won the title for the 19th time since 2000.
The Firebirds were paced throughout the weekend by sophomore golfer
Tanner Angelstad, who tied for seventh among all individuals, earning himself the first all-conference selection of his budding career. Anglestad shot just 11-over at Whitetail Ridge Golf Course to lead Carthage to another stellar showing at the championship.
Alex Lilly rebounded from a challenging day one, showing his 2022 All-CCIW form in the last two days of golf. Lilly shot a 70 on the third and final day of competition, aiding the Firebirds' push back up to the second spot in the standings after falling behind Millikin after day two. Angelstad's classmate barely missed out on a second-consecutive All-CCIW performance, finishing in 12th.
The Firebirds sat in second place after day one with the help of tremendous performances from
Colton Sigel (-1) and
Tanner Angelstad (+2), helping to create some separation between Carthage and its CCIW counterparts.
Junior
Brett VanDeWostine, from Erie, Illinois, was named as the team's CCIW RESPECT Award winner. VanDeWostine earned the distinction for his consistent displays of responsibility, enthusiasm, service, pride, excellence, collaboration, and trust.
- Result: Second place out of nine teams
- Location: Whitetail Ridge Golf Course - Yorkville, Illinois
- 1. Illinois Wesleyan - 865 (+13)
- 2. Carthage - 904 (+52)
- 3. Millikin - 911 (+59)
- 4. Wheaton (Ill.) - 936 (+84)
- T5. North Central (Ill.) - 938 (+86)
- T5. Elmhurst - 938 (+86)
- 7. North Park - 946 (+94)
- 8. Augustana (Ill.) - 954 (+102)
- 9. Carroll (Wis.) - 980 (+128)
"Obviously, you don't go into the Conference Championship hoping to take second place, but with our very young team, a team that only has one returnee from last year's tournament squad, and knowing that IWU has won the CCIW 10 years in a row, and currently is ranked number 11 in the country, you go in with a plan on how to pull off the upset, but you also go in with a sense of reality. Not only are they ranked 11th in the country, in a sport typically dominated by teams in Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, and California, IWU has won two of the last three NCAA D3 National Championships," said Carthage College director of golf and head men's golf coach
Jay Christiansen.
"On day one, our top guns Jared and Alex struggled, but Colton, our five spot player, goes out and fires a 70, while both Tanner and Sam shoot 73, and we sit in second place, just out of shouting range of IWU. On day one, the wind kicks up to nasty levels, we struggle a bit but all the scores go way up to reflect the conditions, but both Tanner and Jared play well and hold us close."
"We go into day three a little too far out of first to realistically put any pressure on IWU, but we find ourselves in a great battle with Millikin for second place, something we can have some fun taking aim at as Millikin has a lineup led by three fifth-year seniors, and is nationally ranked about 20 spots ahead of us. Alex shakes off a couple of off-days to fire a 70, Tanner and Sam again play solid, and we end up earning a very quality second place finish, the exact same spot we finished last year with our senior-dominated lineup, and can head into the off-season feeling great about how we have simply continued to get better all fall and especially all spring."
"I knew going into the Conference Tournament that any of our five guys could put three very good rounds together and have a shot at earning All-Conference, but this is a strong golf conference, and it really does demand some excellent play for three straight rounds to sniff one of those 10 spots. Really good teams have quality players across the five man lineup, and for Tanner, who normally plays in our four spot, to go out and grab All-CCIW honors is fantastic, a testament to how he has continued to push himself, how his skills continue to sharpen, how he has matured into a mentally strong competitor, and to how his teammates do such a great job of both pushing and supporting each other."
