Northern Illinois Men’s Golf Finishes Third at DePaul Blue Demon Classic

ST CHARLES, IL — As gusting winds and cool temperatures settled in, scores steadily rose as the Northern Illinois University men’s golf team wrapped up competition at the DePaul Blue Demon Classic on Tuesday (Sept. 30) with a third-place overall finish.

The 15-team DePaul Blue Demon Classic was played at the par-72 Prairie Landing Golf Club in St. Charles, IL. Southern Illinois University came away with the team title on the strength of a final-round 290. The Salukis shot rounds of 290-294-290--874 to win the tournament title by 18 shots over second-place Tennessee-Chattanooga. Saluki golfer Brian Norman shot a 6-under-par 210 to win individual medalist honors.

While NIU struggled through the cold, windy conditions to a final-round 309, Ethan Roush (Decatur, IL/Mt. Zion) and Nick Schenk (Batavia, IL/Batavia) managed to earn Top-10 finishes. Roush was consistent throughout the tournament. After opening with an even-par 72 and a 3-over-par 75, the Decatur, IL, product responded with yet another even-par round, despite the increasingly tough conditions, to finish fifth overall.

“Ethan played well today,” head coach John Cleary said. “Conditions were tough and the scores will show that. Ethan opened the first-three holes at 3-over-par, but played the final-15 holes at 3-under-par. To have that type of round in these conditions, is excellent.”

After shooting a 4-under-par 68 during the second round, the difficult course conditions may have gotten to Schenk in his final 18. While he finished with an 8-over-par 80, the sophomore still managed to finish eighth overall with a three-round 222.

Joe True (Collinsville, IL/Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran) and Dan Gratton (Roscoe, IL/Rockton Hononegah) tied for 28th overall and third among Huskie golfers. True finished with a final-round 77 to move up to 28th, while Gratton, seeing his first action of the season, finished with a final-round 80.

Like Schenk and Gratton, Aaron Conlon (Batavia, IL/Batavia) shot a final-round 80 to tie for 44th.

NIU will return to action later this week when they compete in the 15-team Earl Yestingsmeier Classic hosted by Ball State. The 54-hole event will be competed on Oct. 4-5 in Muncie, IN.

- Copy by David Reiter

-NIU-

FINAL ROUND TEAM STANDINGS:
Pl. Team Scores
1. Southern Illinois 290-294-290--874
2. Tennessee-Chattanooga 300-289-303--892
3. Northern Illinois University 302-294-309--905
4. Eastern Illinois University 296-302-313--911
5. Wisconsin-Green Bay 306-298-309--913
6. Cleveland State University 303-297-314--914
T7. Detroit-Mercy University 301-295-324--920
T7. Saint Louis University 298-312-310--920
9. Lewis University 299-302-322--923
10. Dayton University 322-293-313--928
11. DePaul University 305-314-315--934
12 Evansville University 317-306-320--943
13. University of Cincinnati 311-315-318--944
14. Loyola-Chicago University 310-324-312--946
15. Bradley University 311-321-320--952

FINAL ROUND INDIVIDUAL LEADERS:
1. Brian Norman (SIU) 69-69-72--210
2. Kyle Hosick (SIU) 71-74-72--217
T3 David Perritt (SLU) 69-71-78--218
T3 Matt Brock (UTC) 73-70-75--218
5. Ethan Roush (NIU) 72-75-72--219
T6 Jason Buffone (Lewis) 68-76-77--221
T6 Mike Bognar 71-76-74--221
8. Nick Schenk (NIU) 74-68-80--222
T9 Tony Harmon (SLU) 72-79-72--223
T9 Matt Kockler 70-74-79--223

NORTHERN ILLINOIS FINAL ROUND RESULTS:
Pl. Individual Scores
5 Ethan Roush 72-75-72--219
8 Nicholas Schenk 74-68-80--222
T 28 Joe True 79-77-77--233
T 28 Dan Gratton 77-76-80--233
T 44 Aaron Conlon 80-75-80--235