The St. Thomas Aquinas men's golf team finished tied for 16th place in the NCAA Championship at Green Valley Ranch Golf Course in Denver, Colorado. Senior Chris Gentle posted a 72 to shoot even par in his final round as a Spartan.
Gentle shot 2-under on the back nine with birdies on the 12th and 15th holes. The senior finished tied for 72nd place in a field of 108 players.
Kevin Gately finished tied for 43rd place shooting 3-over after three days. Gately was the only Spartan to shoot under par during the tournament posting a 71 during his second round. Gately shot 1-over in his third round with four birdies in today's round and ten birdies total during the last three days.
Michale Miranda finished 5-over after three days with a total score of 221. Miranda had five birdies in his final round and eleven total for the tournament.
Michael Frizalone struggled in his final round, carding a 78. Frizalone was just 1-over heading into today's round. Brendan Hunter posted a 75 for his round.
The Spartans will not advance, as more then half the field is cut going into tomorrow medal match play, with just the top eight teams advancing.
St. Leo freshman Hugo Bernard won the university's first national championship in any sport, breaking the tournament record at -13 to capture the NCAA Division II Men's Golf individual title.
Bernard entered the day with a healthy lead and shot an even-par 72 to stay at -13, winning by two strokes over Western New Mexico's Calum Hill. He broke the 54-hole Championships record with his score, which had stood since 2012. Bernard shot rounds of 65, 66, and 72.
While there was little drama in the individual standings, the race for the top eight team spots and berths in the medal match play rounds came down to the wire. Wilmington (Del.) earned its first-ever trip to the quarterfinals by a single stroke (+2) over Central Oklahoma (+3), and Dallas Baptist was only another shot back.
As St. Leo (-26), Chico State (-14), and Florida Southern (-13) ran away with the top of the leaderboard, there was plenty to play for below them as Lynn and Barry (both -6) held their spots, Cal Baptist (-1) moved up two spots to sixth, and West Florida played its way in with the day's best team round at -8 to move from 10th after the second round to seventh.
Quarterfinal play is set for Friday morning, with semifinal matches Friday afternoon and the championship on Saturday.