William Penn Pushes Top Regional Programs at Home Tourney
Moravia–The Statesmen men’s golf team had its string of runner-up placings snapped as it hosted The Statesmen at The Preserve Monday and Tuesday.
WPU finished fourth out of 13 teams with a three-round score of 867 (294-284-289) at The Preserve Golf Course, a par-72 layout. Hastings was the best team in the tournament, posting a final tally of 853 (282-286-285).
Ariel Lev of Morningside headed the 76-player field at 205 (68-69-68).
Entering the week, the Statesmen had started the fall with three consecutive runner-up finishes.
Kaedyn Funnell-Wong (Fr., Auckland, New Zealand, General Accounting) led the navy and gold efforts by tying for ninth at 215 (74-70-71). His weekend was highlighted by eight birdies.
“Kaedyn led us with another top-10 finish,” Head Coach Darin Fisher said. “He is steady, has a calm demeanor on the course, and has the ability to forget quickly and bounce back.”
With a whopping 13 birdies, Elliot Lorentzon (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden, Business Management) was consistent Monday and Tuesday with back-to-back-to-back rounds of 72 to tie for 11th at 216.
“Elliot has shown great leadership and maturity, along with good scoring, exactly what I had hoped he would provide for a young team,” Fisher said.
Mario Palain (So., Zaragoza, Spain, Business Management) also stuck right around par with rounds of 74, 73, and 72 to tie for 18th at 219. The sophomore carded eight birdies.
“Mario is hungry to put together some better scores,” Fisher said. “His finish this week lends to his talent, but I know he wants more.”
Maxence Moreau (So., Lyon, France, Applied Mathematics) had an up-and-down performance at 75-69-79 to place 35th. He produced seven birdies and the squad’s lone eagle. Five of those birdies and the only eagle occurred during his second 18 holes of play.
Samuel Arnaud (So., Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, France, Biology) wrapped up the varsity lineup in 36th at 224 (74-76-74). He recorded nine birdies at the meet.
“Max and Sam both had ups and downs, but both contributed to our scores,” Fisher said.
William Penn also had a reserve team on the course, and the Statesmen finished eighth at 911 (307-303-301). Tyler Pedretti (Jr., Upland, Calif., Business Management) tied for 13th at 217 (70-70-77) to lead the Statesmen.
“This was a special event for me, to host at The Preserve, a place I managed for so many years,” Fisher said. “The field was strong with Missouri Vally, Hastings, and Morningside all ranked, and Mount Mercy and Columbia just outside of the top 25. To place fourth is great and is a testament to the guys’ hard work, ability to grow from mistakes, and will to fight through adversity.”
“Having all five our varsity guys have counting scores is pretty satisfying,” Fisher added. “We saw some very good scores from our second team as well, which talks about our program’s depth. Overall, I am very pleased with our progress this fall, and I think the guys are starting to realize we have all the tools to compete with the best teams in the conference.”
Next Up: William Penn takes a couple weeks off before closing out the autumn on Monday and Tuesday, October 25-26 at compete at the Columbia Classic. Play will be contested at Columbia Country Club.
