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MU irons out ninth place finish

Hannah R. Miller, Staff Writer

In their final tournament before the MAC Championships, the Miami University golf team did not play as well as they hoped at last weekend's Boilermaker Invitational, finishing tied for ninth place out of 12 teams. The disappointing results were paired with a rain delay during play Saturday, making for a less than desirable weekend.

"These final results are a little deceptive because we were in good shape after two rounds," Head Coach Casey Lubahn said. "Today with the combination of the weather and weak attitudes, we fell pretty far back. We were knocking on the door all week, so the finish is a little disappointing."

Junior Nathan Sutherland agreed with Lubahn's disappointment, but kept a positive outlook.

"We're not beating ourselves up too much," Sutherland said. "We have some things to work on if we want to be a top notch program, but we just need to think of what we can improve on."

From here, the RedHawks look to get back into the pattern of success they found in previous tournaments, hoping to put together a victorious combination for the MAC Championships.

"We know we have a team that's capable of being there Sunday afternoon," Lubahn said. "It's just a matter of being positive and sticking to a game plan."

In each of the first two rounds, the team shot a 294, six over par each day. With the postponement of Saturday's second round, delayed by rain, the RedHawks completed the second round Sunday morning before playing the third round. In the third round on a wet course, the 'Hawks shot a 312, finishing the round 24 over par, leaving them at 36 over par for the weekend. The University of Illinois won the tournament, shooting 10 under par over the course of three rounds.

"It wasn't the best timing (for the rain delay)," Lubahn said. "We were playing pretty well and we had a little momentum, but we have to be tougher than that. We need to step up and say ‘hey, no matter what we're going to get this done.'"

The bright spot in the tournament was the play of Sutherland, finishing in 10th place overall, and arriving at his fifth top 10 finish of the season. He completed the invitational with a personal score of 219, three shots over par. Even with the poor weather and challenging course conditions, Nathan's play emerged as a highlight for the 'Hawks.

In order to prepare for the MAC Championships, Lubahn sees it as mostly a mental hurdle.

"We need to come together as unit, stop making excuses and start getting each others' backs," Lubahn said. "Lastly, we need to believe that the process will get us the results that we want."

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The 'Hawks look to get back on track next weekend at the MAC Championships in Nashport, Ohio April 30 to May 2.