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Samuel Salisbury 4.6
Lance Wendt, Courtesy Photo
FLC junior Samuel Salisbury finished in a tie for 11th at the Mustang Intercollegiate (File Photo).

Three players place inside top-20, Skyhawks tie for 3rd at Mustang Intercollegiate

4/6/2021 4:09:00 PM

By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications
GOODYEAR, Arizona — Following a month between spring tournaments, the Fort Lewis College men's golf team showed it is poised to be a threat at this year's RMAC Tournament as it finished in a tie for 3rd out of 13 teams at the Mustang Intercollegiate.

Fort Lewis finished with a team score of +6 (870) over the three rounds at Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Arizona. The team tied with Western New Mexico for third, five strokes back of the University of Texas-Permian Basin (+1 (865)) and 17 strokes back of tournament winners No. 16 ranked Colorado State University Pueblo (-11 (853)).

The Skyhawks were the second highest finishing RMAC team, placing ahead of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (+9 (873)), No. 45 Colorado Mesa University (+10 (874)), Colorado Christian University (+22 (886)), Colorado School of Mines (+33 (897)) and Westminster College (+41 (905)).

"It was unbelievable. The guys have worked very, very hard to get to this position. They've driven themselves all around New Mexico to play golf when we had snow on the ground, worked in the simulator, and they just want to be good so bad," said FLC head golf coach, Jim Foltz. "We've normally not gotten off to great starts in Round One, but we were able to get off to a good start this tournament, which put us in a position to compete."

Fort Lewis had three individual golfers place inside the top-20, led by junior Samuel Salisbury as he carded rounds of 71-71-73 to finish tied for 11th at one-under (215) for the tournament.

Joining Salisbury in the top-20 were fellow junior Darren Edwards and freshman Nicholas Krantz, each of whom finished the tournament in a tie for 16th overall at even-par (216).
"Those three guys led the charge, and right behind them was Blake. Our top four is really solid and our challenge now is deciding on the fifth spot and that's why we brought all eight players to give everyone a fighting chance," Foltz said. "Samuel, Darren and Nicholas were all very consistent, they don't get flustered or down on themselves, and all that hard work they've put in is paying off."

The trio combined for 39 birdies for the tournament, led by Krantz with 14, while the Skyhawks as a team feasted on par-5s with a tournament score of -25; the third best mark behind Western New Mexico (-27) and CSU Pueblo (-35).

"Palm Valley is a course where you have to dominate the par-5s if you want to be in contention to win. There's just no ifs, ands or buts about it," said FLC assistant golf coach, Devin Schreiner.  "Year-after-year, the teams that win and challenges in tournaments here dominate the par-5s, so I'm glad we played them well and we know there is still room for improvement."

FLC senior Blake Kuzava finished in a tie for 43rd overall (+8 (224)) and sophomore Kellen Kudrna placed tied for 65th (+13 (229)) to round out the Skyhawks' scorecard.
Playing unattached, sophomore left-hander Riley Rottschafer earned a tie for 38th overall as he bounced back from a 77 in Round One to fire back-to-back rounds of +1 (73) over the final two rounds.

True freshman Jacob Lucero finished tied for 54th (+11 (227)) and junior Curtis Foster placed 75th (+24 (240) complete the list of Skyhawks in action over the two-day tournament.
The Skyhawks will look to build off the strong performance when they head off to Pueblo to play at the Colorado Masters, scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday at Walking Stick Golf Course.

It'll be the final spring regular season tournament for FLC before the team competes at RMAC Championships, which are set for April 18-20 back in Goodyear, Arizona at Wigwam Golf Resort.

"We'll be taking the five we think will be heading to the RMAC Championships to the Pueblo tournament," Foltz said. "We're going to playing a lot of the same teams we saw here, mostly from the RMAC, so we're hoping to be right up there at the top of the leaderboard again. This will be a great tune-up for the RMAC Championships."
 
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