Tech Men and Women capture second place at Frontier Golf Championships
Montana Tech's Mens and Womens golf teams wrapped up their 2023 seasons with second place finishes at the Frontier Conference Golf Tournament. The following is from a press release from Matt Stepan, Montana Tech's Director of Athletics:
HENDERSON, Nevada - The Montana Tech golf teams wrapped up a solid season with second place finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides after the final round at Reflection Bay Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada Wednesday.
Rocky Mountain College repeated as men’s and women’s conference champions and led after each round of the three-day tournament.
The Montana Tech men shot their tournament low round with a 316 (+28) while the women completed play with a 354 (+66). Both of the Oredigger squads outshot third place Carroll College with the men finishing 107 strokes better than the Saints and the women outpacing Carroll by 83 strokes. “I thought both our men’s and women’s teams played really well on the final day on a very tough track,” said Oredigger Head Coach Sean Ryan.
The Montana Tech men were represented well having four golfers finishing in the top ten with Gabe Witham and Matt Hobbs each earning All-Conference honors for top 5 finishes. Witham scored a final round 75 (+3) and finished the tournament in fourth place with an overall score of 12-over-par, with Hobbs finishing one spot behind with a +16 overall score after carding a final round 77 (+5). Joe Opitz finished the day where he started in 8th place after shooting 85 (+13) while Nick Pasquarello climbed three spots on the leaderboard after shooting is tournament low of 79 (+7), landing him tied for 10th. Blake Loberg rounded out the Oredigger men tied for 13th place in the final standings after a final-round score of 89 (+17). “Matt and Gabe both played great tournaments and held it together down the stretch to finish on the all-tournament team. I’m really proud of the way they brought their best when it mattered the most. It was great for Matt to finish on the all-tournament team as a senior and as a leader for our squad.”
Haydn Driver of Rocky Mountain College was the individual men’s champion at this year’s championships.
The Montana Tech women finished with three in the top ten as Freshman Oredigger Emma Woods capped a solid first year finishing in 4th place and earning All-Conference honors after completing a final round score of 83 (+11). Samantha Benson finished just out of the top five after shooting 89 (+17) landing her in 6th place. Franchi Ceartin finished in 10th place after firing a final round of 90 while Kodie Hoagland held the 11th place spot with a 92 (+20). Cierra Sundheim capped the solid performance by the Orediggers with a final round 98 (+26) finishing in 13th. “Emma had a great tournament to cap off a record setting freshman year. She’s played at a really high level all year long and this tournament was proof of that,” added Coach Ryan. “Our ladies did a good job of handling adversity in their rounds and keeping some distance in front of Carroll.”
Valentina Zuleta of Rocky Mountain College led wire-to-wire to capture the women’s title.
“This is a great group and I can’t thank them enough for making this year a really impressive season for our program," Ryan added.
Each of the ten entrants from the Orediggers men’s and women’s teams finished in the top half of the final standings. Blake Loberg and Cierra Sundheim were each named Champions of Character for Montana Tech at the post-tourney award ceremony.