NORFOLK, Neb. – In its last hurrah for the fall season, the Concordia University men’s golf team placed ninth out of 13 squads in action at Saturday’s annual Nebraska Intercollegiate held at Norfolk Country Club. The Bulldogs shot a 319 (+31) at an event that was originally scheduled to be played out over two days. Due to inclement weather and wet conditions, Friday’s round was canceled.
Senior Russell Otten carded a team low four-over-par 76 and placed 14th out of 71 golfers at the meet. Earlier this week, seventh-year head coach Brett Muller’s squad concluded fall GPAC championship action with a fourth-place standing.
Otten came in right at his season average on Saturday. Conditions were not especially conducive to low scoring. Only event champion University of Nebraska-Kearney (299) posted a sub-300 team score. Junior Nolan Zikas managed to crack the 70s along with Otten. Zikas’ five-over-par 77 placed him in a tie for 21st. The rest of the lineup included sophomore Tylar Samek (83; T-50th), freshman Kort Steele (83; T-50th) and senior Tyler Ehresman (84; T-55th).
The Nebraska Intercollegiate is a unique tournament that features Nebraska institutions only. GPAC rivals Doane, Hastings and Midland were also part of the field in Norfolk. NAIA, NCAA Division II and III and junior college levels were represented.
The Bulldogs entered the day with an average team score of 302.4 through the season’s first eight rounds of competition. Zikas will take a team best 18-hole average of 73.8 into the spring season. Aiming for his third-straight all-conference honor, Zikas is fifth on the GPAC leaderboard (70-73–143) as it currently stands.
The spring schedule has not yet been released. The third and fourth rounds of the conference championships will be staged at Woodland Hills Golf Course in Eagle, Neb., this coming spring.