LINCOLN, Neb. – A pair of top-five individual finishes highlighted three rounds of action for Concordia University Men’s Golf at the 2023 Blue River Classic co-hosted by Concordia and Doane. The Bulldog ‘A’ team wound up placing third out of 16 groupings in a field that navigated 54 holes at Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln. Concordia’s top group turned in a three-round total of 296-297-291–884.
Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad placed behind only Morningside (874) and Doane (879) atop the team leaderboard at the Blue River Classic. Drew D’Ercole and Justin Webert placed fourth and fifth, respectively, out of the 89 individual golfers in the tournament.
“The conditions were pretty tough with the way the wind blew yesterday,” Muller said. “The course kind of dried out a little bit. Round one, we got off to a slow start. Then in round two we had the lowest team score and today we had the second lowest team score. We just had too big of a hole after the first day. We got out to a great start today – we were minus-six at one point finished at plus-three.”
The Papillion, Neb., native D’Ercole hovered around par in every round while shooting 71-73-72–216. He entered the final round just one stroke off the tournament lead. D’Ercole ultimately landed in fourth place, just four strokes behind tournament co-leaders Sam Arnold of Doane and Gabe Escalera of Hastings (212 apiece). The Lincoln Southwest High School grad Webert creeped up on the heels of D’Ercole by shooting one-under-par in round two. Webert finished at 75-71-72–218 while claiming the fifth-place medal.
There were plenty of other standout efforts among the 15 Bulldogs who competed at the event. As part of the Concordia ‘B’ team, Josh D’Ercole vaulted into a tie for 13th overall by way of his one-under-par 71 in the final round. Both Josh D’Ercole and Gavin McWhorter (three-under-par 69 in round one) turned in career low 18-hole scores during the course of the tournament. Another pair of Bulldogs finished in the top 20 overall: Jake Richmond (T-16th) and Jake Hagerbaumer (T-20th). Complete Concordia scores are listed below. Richmond carded a 73 in round two and Hagerbaumer finished with a bang (one-under 71).
Said Muller, “We had a lot of solid individual performances across all three teams. I think it was the first time our ‘B’ team has broken 300 – and they did that in one of the rounds yesterday. That was great to see. That exemplifies the depth that we have. We have three-four guys who are pretty solid at the top and a lot of other guys that are all very close.”
The Bulldog ‘B’ team shot a score of 298-315-306–919 and placed eighth. Meanwhile, the ‘C’ squad came in a tie for 11th while shooting 308-318-318–944. Concordia’s ‘A’ grouping beat out GPAC rivals such as Hastings (fifth), Briar Cliff (sixth), Dordt (ninth) and Mount Marty (11th). The Mustangs seized the team championship by carding a 287 in the final round.
Blue River Classic Results – FINAL
--Par 72
4. Drew D’Ercole: 71-73-72–216
5. Justin Webert: 75-71-72–218
T13. Josh D’Ercole: 76-76-71–223
T16. Jake Richmond: 75-73-76–224
T20. Jake Hagerbaumer: 75-80-71–226
T26. Gavin McWhorter: 69-82-77–228
T33. Jacob Woodmancy: 77-77-79–233
T35. Brock Rogers: 76-80-79–235
T40. Maxwell Fremarek: 74-79-82–235
T40. Jacob Dowd: 79-81-75–235
T46. Colin Aubuchon: 76-81-79–236
T54. Taylor Johnson: 79-77-82–238
T59. Gavin Buttshaw: 79-84-77–240
T71. Jaxson Fullerton: 82-85-82–249
T71. Bret Brenneis: 81-86-82–249
Next up for the Bulldogs will be the Siouxland Invite on Sept. 11-12. The action will take place at The Ridge in Sioux Center, Iowa, on day one and then Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City, Iowa, on day two.