Mighty Oaks Weekend Recap - Oct. 16

10/17/2017

The ESF Mighty Oaks golf team finished sixth this past week in the 2017 USCAA Golf National Championships — the best finish the team has ever achieved.

The tournament in State College, Pennsylvania, Oct. 9 through 11 featured 20 teams. It was the largest field in the tournament's history. ESFs two-day total of 623 would have been good enough for second place in 2016.

Highlights for this year's national tournament include:
- A first-day total of 308– the lowest one-day team total at the tournament
- Two Academic All-Americans – juniors Kory Whittum and Will Hoffman
- First Team All-American – senior Sean Barron with a 146 total (lowest two-day total in school history – third place overall)

The Mighty Oaks ended the golf season with another second-place finish at the National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA) Northeast Regional at The Links at Greystone, a highly rated public course in the Rochester area.

The team took a one-stroke lead into day two, just edging out Niagara University. Windy weather the second day pushed the scores up a bit and the ESF squad missed the top spot by four shots and finished second. That put them in a tie for second in the NCCGA and just one spot short of an automatic invitation to the NCCGA National Finals in Las Vegas. The team could still receive an invitational birth into the national event, but will not know until the end of the month.

Leading the way for the Mighty Oaks was Barron with a 77 and 77 for a 154 two-day total. Barron was second overall, missing the top spot by just one stroke. Also making the top eight from ESF was Hoffman with a 78 and 80 for a total of 158, tied for sixth.

The Woodsmen's team opened its fall season at Finger Lakes Community College. The Mighty Oaks brought four teams comprising six people each who represented ESF in three divisions — men's, women's and Jack and Jill (co-ed).

Both the men's and women's A teams and the Jack- and-Jill team placed second out of four schools.

Highlights from the women's competition include:
- Sophomore Juliana Ofalt placed first in the pole climb event
- Juniors Kara Kryszczuk and Eliza Phillips won the doubles fire build
- The women's A team won the team crosscut and the team packboard relay

On the men's side:
- Junior Patrick Harrison and senior Jake Kelly won in the fire build event
- Senior Colin Cusick and junior Ben Karlson won the doubles crosscut
- Seniors Ethan Justinger and Zach Davis won the underhand chop
- Sophomore Will Chamberlain won the axe throw event
- The men's A team won three out of four team events — the log roll, team bow saw and team crosscut

On the cross-country course, the men's and women's teams participated in the Yellowjacket Cross Country Invitational at Genesee Valley Park. The invitational featured some of the top Division III schools in New York and Pennsylvania. The women's team finished ninth out of 13 schools. Junior Marissa Lathrop led the Mighty Oaks with a 15th-place finish (23:48) out of 191 runners in the 6K race. Freshman Erin Cocca finished in the top 50 (40th - 24:38).

In the men's race, freshman Mark McClenahan finished 38th with a time of 27:26 in a race that featured more than 200 runners. RIT was the overall team winner in the men's race while Elizabethtown College of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, won the women's race.

The men's and women's teams have next weekend off while they prepare for the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 29.

On the soccer pitch, the women's team improved to 8-2 overall, 3-0 in conference play, with two wins during the week — a hard-fought 3-2 overtime win over the Bryant and Stratton Bobcats and a 7-0 win over conference foe the College of New Rochelle. Senior Shannon Gordinier scored the game-winning goal versus the Bobcats off an assist from senior Lauren Archer. Archer also scored one goal in the game.

The men's team fell 2-0 in a competitive game against Bryant and Stratton, which came into the game undefeated. The squad traveled down to New Rochelle over the weekend and picked up a 6-1 conference win over the Blue Angels. The men's team improves to 9-4 overall, 5-0 in conference play.

Both teams face conference foe Pratt Institute Oct. 21 at Chuck Wilbur field on the Onondaga Community College campus.