KENOSHA - The Carthage College men's golf team earned an 8th-place finish at the Firebird Spring Invitational. In their lone spring home contest, the Firebirds posted a total score of 217 (+33). Tayt Hager placed the highest individually, with a second place finish. 


Logan Westman and Ethan Frasch led the Firebirds' first team, each tying for 20th place after carding rounds of 78 (+7). Brett Vandergrift followed with a score of 80 (+9), earning a 34th-place finish. Nick Barry placed 43rd with an 81 (+10), while James Trachsel rounded out the lineup, finishing 83rd with a score of 86 (+15).

The Firebirds' second team was paced by Hager, who delivered one of the top performances of the day. Hager tied for second place with an impressive round of 72 (+1). James Tyrrell and Elliott Leibham each shot 80 (+9), tying for 34th place. Jack Crispo and Jacob Jenkins completed the second team's efforts, both tying for 70th after posting rounds of 84 (+13).


"A very unique day," said head coach Jay Christiansen. "We host this early April event as a way to get a big chunk of our roster against many of the area D3 schools. We were able to get five teams, 25 players, some great varsity competition today on an excellent course, and the results were a bit crazy! I never expected our third team to beat both our first and second teams, but it happened because that group simply went out and played good golf, not at all phased by the stage. It sure sets the stage for the competition within the team to keep growing and growing. Meadowbrook is a very strong challenge, and although we actually found a very sunny day to play, the spring wind was up, so the course played a little extra tough. The guys who judged the wind well and were able to find the fairways more often, the guys who were able to successfully control the flight of their irons, and the guys who putted with confidence on country club speed greens ended up with solid scores and represented themselves very well. It was especially nice to see the scores from Tayt, Joey, and Zach. Each brings a different level of college experience; each is working hard to punch through the ceiling and get to the next level, and at least for today, played very well and led us impressively."


The Firebirds will be back in action on Sunday, April 12, at the WLC Moringstar Masters, hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran. For more information, visit our athletics.carthage.edu.