Lions Golf Squads Place 10th, 11th in Grove City Invitational
GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's golf team sent its full roster to compete in the Grove City College Fall Invitational on Thursday afternoon at Grove City Country Club, fielding two teams among a total of 16.
The Lions' 'B' team came in 10th place with a score of 325, while the 'A' team was 11th with a score of 326.
Grove City's 'A' team won the day, shooting 304 as a team to come in first place. Pitt-Bradford was the runner-up with 307, and Thiel College shot 309 to place third.
Penn State Altoona ranked ahead of fellow Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schools La Roche University (14th place, 347) and Mount Aloysius College (15th place, 359), while placing behind AMCC opponents Pitt-Bradford (2nd place, 307) and Penn State Behrend (6th place, 314).
"We are currently still trying to identify our lineup. We have depth, but we're lacking consistency," said Penn State Altoona head coach Tom Koehle. "We had a great opportunity today to let the entire squad get out and get a tournament round under their belt."
Leading the way for Penn State Altoona's 'B' squad was Cole Mori (Annapolis, MD/Annapolis Area Christian School), who shot a collegiate career-low 78 to tie for 19th place out of 86 individual golfers. Meanwhile, Jacob Mrvos (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) also established a new collegiate career-low, shooting 78 to post the lowest score on the Lions' 'A' team and tie Mori at 19th place individually.
"I'm very happy for Cole and Jake. They both didn't have their best at Allegheny, but they rebounded and shot nice rounds of 78 today," stated Koehle. "They are both capable, and I'm hoping this gives them the shot of confidence our lineup needs."
Frankie Guinan (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) shot a career-best 82 for the 'B' team to tie for 38th place. Grant Molloy (Ambler, PA/Upper Dublin) finished with 87, and Brian Snyder (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) and Aaron Horvat (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) carded 82 and 83, respectively, in their collegiate debuts on the 'B' squad.
Luke Hoffnagle (York, PA/Spring Grove) finished with 82 for the 'A' team to tie for 38th place, while Jimmy Gillespie (Glen Mills, PA/Garnet Valley) and Ethan Yohe (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) each shot 83 to tie for 46th place. Ryan Marshall (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) carded an 85 in his first collegiate round for the 'A' team.
"It was a tale of two nines for Luke," said Koehle. "He played terrible for his standards on the back, but he really found his game on the front – his second nine – and it may be the breakout he has been waiting for."
Next, Penn State Altoona golf will compete in the two-day Mountain Valley Collegiate Classic on Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22. Day one of the Classic is the Lions' home event, the Penn State Altoona Invitational, which will tee off at 1:00 p.m. at Sinking Valley Country Club. Day two is the Mount Aloysius College Invitational, which is slated to get underway at 12:00 p.m. at the Summit Country Club.
"We are excited for home cooking next weekend," said Koehle. "We'll be defending our titles in our home tournament and in the combined Mountain Valley Classic. We need to show some pride and defend those titles."
The team which competes in both days of the Mountain Valley Collegiate Classic and has the lowest combined score will be crowned the winner of the two-day event.
