With a final round of 297, the West Chester University men’s golf team captured its sixth PSAC Championship in team history and its first since 2018, finishing the Tournament with a 54-hole score of 891.
This Championship, aside from being the Golden Rams’ first under head coach Chris Merce and the first since 2018, also punches the Golden Rams’ ticket to the NCAA Atlantic/East Regional Championships in May, as the Golden Rams finished the Tournament four strokes clear of Pitt-Johnstown (895) and nine strokes clear of 2024 Champion Gannon (900).
“This weekend was a complete team effort,” Merce said. “We got major contributions from every player in the lineup throughout the three days of the championship. Our team’s belief and confidence in each other was absolutely the deciding factor this week. With such a young team, I was really proud of how we maintained our composure on the back 9 today when the wind picked up and the scoring conditions became extremely difficult.”
Paul-Arthur Roth was the Rams’ top individual finisher in a tie for fifth at 5-over-par (73, 71, 77; 221 ) and was one of three WCU players in the top-10. Roth made a pair of birdies on the back nine, carding a birdie on the par-four 11th for the second day in a row before adding another birdie on the par-four 14th to play the back nine at even par.
William Hilton was the biggest mover for West Chester on Sunday as he climbed 12 spots and moved into a tie for seventh after a stellar final round, which included a four-under (32) on the front nine with birdies on the first three holes and another birdie on the par-four sixth. Hilton shot a one-under 71 in his final round to finish the Tournament at 6-over after firing a 74 and 75 in his first two rounds.
Patrick Carl was the third and final Golden Ram in the top-10, finishing in a tie for 10th at 8-over with a two-over 74 in his final round. Carl carded five birdies in the final round, including the par-four second, the par-four sixth, par-five seventh, par-five 13th, and par-five 16th.
Evan Jozwiak finished 12th at 9-over with a final round of 76 after shooting a 75 and 74 in his first two rounds. Yamato Kimura also climbed the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon, moving 11 spots into a tie for 22nd with a resilient 76, which included a birdie on the par-four 10th to open his back nine.
West Chester led the field in birdies (41) and pars with 156 and handled the par-fours of Iron Valley as well as any team in the field throughout the week, finishing with a 4.21 scoring average (+32) for the 54-hole Tournament. Roth and Hilton played a significant role in this effort as they ranked first and second in the field in par-four scoring average at 3.97 (-1) and 4.03 (+1), respectively.
CCSHOF Induction Banquet: The 17th Chester County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will take place on Nov. 8 at the Kennett Fire Company Red Clay Room. The Class of 2025 includes nine individuals and one team: the 1991 West Chester Henderson 4×400 relay team that won at the Penn Relays.
The rest of the inductees are: Phoenixville’s Joe Devlin (former NFL player); West Chester’s Jenny Graap (lacrosse head coach at Cornell); West Chester lacrosse head coach Ginny Martino; West Chester Henderson’s Chaz McCormick (MLB player); Extoin’s Matt Ryan (former NFL player); Phoenixville’s Aamina Thorton (former lacrosse star at Temple); West Chester’s Joe Walsh (former football player/coach at WCU and former head coach at West Chester Henderson); West Chester’s Jason Wingard (1990 hurdles state champion from W.C. Henderson); and Malvern’s Bill Zwaan (WCU head football coach 2003-23).
The event begins with a social hour (5:30-6:30 pm) followed by dinner and awards. The cost is $62 ($25 for children 12 and under). For ticket information, contact Pearl Dorsey at CCHOF2008@yahoo.com of call 610-269-8533.
Source: Berkshire mont
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