Coming off their first tournament of the season at the Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, Pa., the Elizabethtown men’s golf team took to the course again on Tuesday. In their previous tournament, the Marywood Quad-Match, the Blue Jays finished third in the four team competition. Each team was allowed five golfers, with the tournament totaling 20 competitors.
The Blue Jays top-finisher, senior Ryan Laudeman, shot three over par to finish in second place. He fell just one shot short of a tie for first place. Behind Laudeman, senior Ryan Forbes finished 11 shots over par for an eighth-place tie. The remaining Blue Jays in the tournament were junior Adam Amspacher, and first-years Craig Eidle and Brian Priebe, who finished tied for 12th, 17th and 20th respectively.
Laudeman took a liking to the Moosic course a couple of years ago when he took home the Glenmaura National Collegiate Invitational as a sophomore in 2013. With a second place finish in the year’s first tournament, he will look to anchor the young Blue Jay’s roster.
Etown traveled to Harrisburg on Tuesday for the Messiah Falcon Fall Classic at the Blue Ridge Country Club. The tournament totaled 15 teams with five golfers competing for each school. The Blue Jays found themselves among familiar company at the tournament, facing old foes from the Middle Atlantic Conference such as Alvernia University, Stevenson University, Albright College, Hood College, Messiah College and Lebanon Valley College.
Etown sent Laudeman, Forbes and Amspacher-all of whom competed in the Blue Jays opening tournament. Newcomers Chris Heuer and Adam Strayton, both first-years, competed for the first time in their collegiate careers.
Amspacher led all Etown golfers by shooting nine-over-par, good enough for a tie for 13th place. Right behind Amspacher came Laudeman, who shot 10 over par and finished in a tie for 15th. Forbes, Heuer and Strayton finished tied for 31st, tied for 42nd and tied for 59th, respectively. There were 79 total players at this year’s Messiah Falcon Fall Classic.
Etown’s group of golfers played well enough to earn fourth place out of the 15 teams at the tournament, two shots better than fifth place Alvernia and four shots behind third place Rutgers-Camden University. Messiah took home the team title with four of their golfers finishing in the top seven of the player standings. Jordan Kirsch and Nate Haney of Messiah placed first and second.
The Blue Jays will turn their attention to this weekend’s two-day Penn State Harrisburg Invitational beginning on Sunday at Dauphin Highlands Golf Course.
