LYNCHBURG, Va. – The EMU Disc Golf team endured a cold and blustery weekend to compete against a talented field at the annual Liberty Flamethrower Collegiate Regional, hosted by Liberty University on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2. The Saturday rounds took place at wooded courses on Liberty's campus, while the Sunday round took place at the Ivy Hill Disc Golf Course.
 
The Royals acquitted themselves well against their toughest competition of the season, including a third-place finish by the Men's "A" squad, and the Men's "B" team clinching a spot at College Disc Golf Nationals next month.
 
Highlights

• Men's "A" Team (Theo Andreas, Beckham Jantzi, Jesse Longenecker, Eli Stoll)
  • Saturday Team Doubles Round
    • The "A" squad started their weekend with a -12 (51) opening round. That was good for a five-way tie for third in the top division, just one stroke behind the co-leaders. The team scored 12 birdies on the 20-hole Camp Hydaway course.
  • Saturday Singles Round
    • On a windy afternoon, Longenecker breezed through the singles round, placing second overall with a scorecard of -9 (51). Longenecker has finished in the top six in each of his individual rounds so far this season, and this was his second-best singles finish of the year.  Jantzi and Andreas also wound up in the red figures, with both of them scoring -1 (59) to be part of a four-way tie for 20th. Stoll completed the singles round with a +2 (62).
  • Sunday Team Round
    • The "A" team wrapped up the competition with a -9 (58) in the team round on the Ivy Hill course. They started the round with four birdies in a row on the way to a third place overall out of 16 teams in the top division.
• Men's "B" Team (Willem Hedrick, Eli Miller, Kai Peachey-Stoner, Yuji Wenger)        
  • Saturday Singles Round
    • The "B" squad started their tournament with singles play, led by Wenger's round of even par 60, good for a tie for 12th in the middle "DII" division.
  • Saturday Team Round
    • The "B" team put together a solid second round to put themselves in contention for a nationals bid on Sunday.
  • Sunday Team Round
    •  In the final round, the Royals "B" squad had their share of struggles, including a three-hole stretch with scores of bogey or worse. But they come up clutch to finish tied for seventh in the middle division, good enough to clinch a DII bid to nationals.
• Women's Team (Naomi Kratzer, Miriam Rhodes)
  • Saturday Team Round
    • Kratzer and Rhodes opened up with a round of +11 (74), in close competition with teams from Liberty and Pitt.
  • Saturday Singles Round
    • The Royal women put up solid singles rounds, with Kratzer turning in a scorecard of +9 (72), followed closely by Rhodes at +12 (75).
  • Sunday Team Round
    • Kratzer and Rhodes wrapped up their weekend with a good final round to place fourth out of six women's teams.

 
What's Next
The EMU Disc Golf Team concludes their season with a trip to Rock Hill, S.C., for the annual College Disc Golf Nationals on Wednesday-Saturday, April 2-5.