Raiders place five in Top 32 at Chenal CC

Tuesday, October 22

Little Rock, Ark.

All Day

Middle Tennessee

Little Rock Invitational

10/22/2019 2:19:00 PM | Men's Golf

MT takes third place at Little Rock Invitational

By: @MTAthletics

Final Results

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – After making a push to the top of the leaderboard on the final day of the Little Rock Invitational, the Middle Tennessee Men's Golf team hit a tough stretch of holes to close out their time at Chenal Country Club in third place at 13-over par (295-284-298=877).

The final day was tough for all 15 teams, with MT's round being the fifth best team round posted on Tuesday despite it being the team's worst score of the week.

Middle Tennessee came up just short of Campbell (+8) and Illinois State (+8) in the 54-hole totals after the Top 2 teams posted scores of 5-over and 4-over, respectively, in the final round.

"I learned a lot about my team this week," Head Coach Mark McEntire said. "I am proud that they put themselves in contention. At one point in the final round we had the lead with 6 holes to play. It's great to see how this young team would handle being in that position."

McEntire's squad also saw great individual results on the week, with five of six Blue Raiders earning spots in the Top 32 in a field of 87 golfers.

Senior Tanner Owens led the group with a fifth place finish thanks to his third under-par performance in four tournaments this season.

The Milton, Tenn., native concluded the week at 2-under par (72-69-73=214) and defeated both Top 100 ranked golfers in the field.

Junior Ilari Saulo matched the 1-over par 73 posted by Owens on the final day to earn a tie for 20^th place at 5-over par (73-75-73=221) in the event.

Trailing closely behind Saulo were freshman Mattias Varjun (+6), sophomore Palmer Sadlowski (+8) and freshman Steven Haremski (+8). Varjun tied for 23^rd place on the week while Sadlowski and Haremski tied for 32^nd.

Freshman Gavin Clements rounded out the scoring for McEntire, posting a 15-over par mark in the Little Rock Invitational.

"I thought Tanner had another great week and Ilari played solid as well," McEntire added. "The young guys got more good reps, too, so nothing but positives from the week. I'm happy with the finish and look forward to the Bahamas."

The Blue Raiders are now through four of five fall tournaments, with their final trip of the semester taking them to the White Sands Intercollegiate in Paradise Island, Bahamas (Nov. 1-3).

For all the latest information on Middle Tennessee Men's Golf, follow the #BlueRaiders on Facebook (@MTMensGolf), Twitter (@MT_MGolf) and Instagram (MT_MGolf).