by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Gary Shrader uses Kansas City Kansas Community College’s fall golf season for two primary reasons – find his best starting lineup and toughen the Blue Devils for the spring season and a shot at a national tournament berth.
Despite a disappointing finish in the Park University Fall Classic this past weekend, the 2017 fall season was no exception.
“We played some really tough competition in invitational tournaments loaded with teams from strong NAIA power conferences,” Shrader said. “William Woods placed fourth in the national last year. Lindenwood, Park, Hannibal-LaGrange and Rockhurst are others and we kept going up against the same field in five of the seven tournaments we played this fall.
“And there won’t be a let-up next spring with the Graceland Invitational at Mazingo in Maryville, the conference designated tournaments at Colbert Hills in Manhattan and Terradyne and Auburn Hills in Wichita and the District II playoffs in Oklahoma where we’ll have to go up against powers like Tyler out of Texas and Murray State and Seminole out of Oklahoma,” he said.
In a rare tournament in which they faced only community college teams, KCKCC finished third (619) behind Barton County (591) and Kirkwood (606) in the Blue Devil Invitational at Dub’s Dread. Independence (673) and Allen County (685) rounded out the field. Led by co-medalists Thitipong Homruen and Oscar Elfvin, Barton had four of the five lowest scores.
Sophomore Micah Morris (79-74-153) of Coyle, Okla., and freshman Jack Flynn (78-75-153) of Lawrence Free State tied for sixth to lead KCKCC while sophomore Bobby Armstrong (79-79-158) of Wichita Bishop Carroll and freshman Zach Miller (83-75-158) of Greeley tied for 14th.
Wichita Maize sophomore Trevor Bauer (81-78-159) was another stroke back in 16th with Leavenworth freshman Evin Wheaton (82-80-162) 18th and Olathe Northeast frosh Harry Welsh (86-94-180) 37th.
Blustery winds and the first look at new courses got the best of the Blue Devils in the Park Invitational played at The National Golf Club of Kansas and its sister course, The Deuce, in Parkville.
“Playing blind on two difficult courses, horrible wind gusts and lost balls in the leaves, we did not play well at all,” said Shrader, whose Blue Devils finished eighth in an 11-team field.
Lindenwood and Park University tied for first at 629 followed by Rockhurst, 632; Bethany, 636; Kansas Wesleyan, 645; Ottawa, 646; Iowa Central, 671; KCKCC, 684; Haskell Indian Nation, 700; Southwestern, 738; and Hannibal-LaGrange, which withdrew after the first round.
Bobby Armstrong (85-81-166) finished in a tie for 31st to lead KCKCC. Trevor Bauer (91-83-174), Micah Morris 994-81-175) and Jack Flynn (84-92-176) finished 49th, 50th and 51st with Zach Miller (92-87-179) 56th.
