@bodytext: In the drizzle and gray of Cape Cod this weekend, the Jumbos managed to put together two good rounds of golf to finish 19th out of 46 schools in the New England Championships. While that may not seem like an outstanding finish, the competition consisted of Ivy League and Big East schools in addition to NESCAC and local universities, forcing the Jumbos to play alongside Div. I scholarship players. Of the 46 teams, 20 were Div. III, and Tufts finished fifth out of those schools.
On Monday, the team shot a combined score of 318 and finished 25 strokes off the first day's leader, UConn.
Sophomore Justin Meier led the scoring for the Jumbos with a 78. He was followed by sophomores Matt Linde (79), Josh Bloomberg (80), and Seb Gonzalez (81), and freshman Dave Hunt (86). Jason Parajeckas of UConn led the 230 participants in the Championship with a 71.
The rainy conditions on Tuesday were not ripe for low scores, and with players competing on a different, longer arrangement of the course, few teams improved on the previous day. The Jumbos posted a 335, for a final score of 653.
Once again Meier led the scoring for the Jumbos. He shot an 80, and his two day total of 159 tied for 45th overall. To put that score in perspective, no one on Harvard's golf team did better than 160 over the two days. Harvard's final score for the tournament was 648, which narrowly edged the Jumbos.
Gonzalez again scored 81 for a total of 162 and a tie for 66th place. Bloomberg's 80 gave him a 165, good for 90th place. Linde and Hunt finished with a 169 and a 174, respectively. Linde tied for 132nd and Hunt for 174th overall.
"I thought everyone had fun and I know that I'm proud of the way we played," Hunt said. "Throughout the year everyone has just been wicked good."
UConn won the entire tournament with a score of 606, but this was not without controversy. One of the University of Rhode Island's top scores was disqualified due to improper scoring. One of the players wrote that he had four when in fact he had a five. His total score included the extra stroke, but in golf such a mistake is an automatic DQ. This halted the Rams' streak of seven straight championships.
For the individual title, Patrick Fillian of Sacred Heart and Ben Spitz of Rhode Island finished with identical scores of 145. In the two-hole playoff that ensued, the freshman Fillian emerged the victor. Parajeckas shot a 76 on Tuesday to finish two strokes off the leaders for third place.
This weekend held the last scheduled tournament of the year for the Tufts team.
