Posted: Mar 30, 2009
MARION - The Rend Lake College men's golf team has caught fire
early this spring, grabbing its second consecutive championship
today at the John A. Logan College Invitational at Kokopelli Golf
Course in Marion. Sophomore linkster David Griffin led the way as
the tournament medalist in both wins.
Griffin (Effingham) grabbed first place
in RLC's championship Saturday at Shawnee Community College's
Invitational held at The Gambit in Vienna.
They then turned around and shot 72-75-147 to
win the two-day Logan Invite.
Ryan Keller, a RLC sophomore golfer from Nashville,
shot 149 to tie runner-up Steve McGlynn of Indian Hills Community
College, but lost a scorecard playoff for the second-place
spot. Keller and Griffin were joined on Logan's all-tournament
team by RLC's Jared Harp (Benton) who finished fifth
behind Kaskaskia College's Andrew Arnot.
RLC shot a 304 at Shawnee to finish in front of Parkland
College at 313, Shawnee at 315 and seven other teams.
The Lake's golfers shot 299-308-607 to beat the host by six
strokes in the Logan Invite today. Indian Hills took
third with a 615 in the 12-team tournament.
Assisting in the first-place finish today for RLC were
sophomore Elijah Sentel (Benton) with an 80-79-159 and freshman
Tanner Spicuzza (Dahlgren) with an 84-85-169. Sentel, Keller, Harp
and Griffin seem to be in place as Head Coach Dave Smith's top four
players. It's up to freshmen Ross Rubenacker (Mt. Vernon) and
Spicuzza to strengthen that fifth spot and put their team over
the top when it comes time for the Region XXIV Championship
Tournament, according to Smith.
"When these four play well, we win," Smith said. "We've just
got to have that fifth guy get better ... to contribute at the
regional. We've just got to get somebody to come up with
something. Don't get me wrong. It's not like they aren't
trying. They are trying. They are trying hard."
With its first and second wins of the spring, RLC is full sail
toward the May 3 regional. The question is will they stay
consistent or get their second wind at the right time this spring?
They were ranked 16th on the NJCAA DII top-20 national poll in
December. The two championships should go a long way in
improving that ranking.
"We got a really good couple of weeks of practice under our
belt [before The Gambit] ... and that's really helped us,"
Smith said. "I don't know where we are as far as the regional
goes, but we just beat some good teams. That's a pretty good
weekend and a really good weekend for Griffin. Two wins should give
him a lot of confidence."
The Warriors will return Sunday to Goose Pond, invitations in
hand, to participate in the Region 22 Championship against
some DI junior colleges. They will play 36 holes Monday and 18 on
Tuesday. Then it's off to Panther Creek golf course in
Springfield, April 13, for the Bulldog Invitational before
hosting their own tournament, April 19 and 20, at the
acclaimed Rend Lake Golf Course in Whittington.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR A PHOTO OF GRIFFIN http://www.rlc.edu/warriors/mgolf/bios.php