Men’s golf looks to finish season strong today ahead of Dayton Invitational – The Cauldron
The Cleveland State University Men’s Golf team came off of a pretty successful couple of weeks, heading into their final invitational. It started with the River Run Collegiate where they placed 11th out of 16, the best performance coming from senior Zach Robbins who placed 26th overall.
During the two-day invitational, senior Jules Blakely pulled off an impressive jump on day two where he rose 22 spots in the rankings to finish strong in 38th place. The final tally on the scores were 300-301-309 with Robbins finishing with an impressive aggregate score of 225. Following the River Run Collegiate, the Vikings hosted 13 total teams that competed in the Tom Tontimonia Invitational.
Senior Jules Blakely watches his drive from the tee box. Photo courtesy of Vikings Athletics
The Tom Tontimonia Invitational holds a special place in Cleveland State’s heart as it is named after the long-time athletics administrator. Tontimonia was with Cleveland State for over 38 years and oversaw a lot of what went on with the men’s golf program specifically. After retiring in 2018, the university named the invitational after him for his years of service and support for the team.
The Vikings did not disappoint during the invitational either as they finished strong coming in fifth place to finish off the rain-shortened tournament. Robbins had his first top-20 finish of the season coming in 13th place with junior Gunnar McCollins coming in close behind in 20th place. This was McCollins first top-20 finish ever in his collegiate career and was the first time the Vikings had two top-20 finishes this season. Robbins finished one over par in both rounds with a 72-72 and as a team they finished with a score of 293-287, tied with Youngstown State University.
Senior Zach Robbins putts it on the green during the Tom Tontimonia Invitational. Photo courtesy of Vikings Athletics
Other notables from the home tournament came from Blakely and senior Zak Supelak who both finished with the same score, tying for 45th place. Junior Jonny Filler finished with the team’s best round score in the tournament, finishing day two with an impressive 68, three under par. Filler also jumped up the largest number of spots thanks to his day two score, going up 38 spots in the rankings to finish tied for 26th with senior teammate Jack Hanus.
The Vikings will look to keep the ball rolling as they move on to their last event of the season, the Flyer Invitational in Dayton on Oct. 18-19.