NIACC men open season at Tiger Classic

FORT MADISON - Bradley Vaith shot a 81 on Tuesday to lead the NIACC men's golf team at the Iowa Wesleyan Tiger Classic at the Sheaffer Memorial Golf Course.

NIACC, which was playing in its first tournament of the spring season, shot a 347 as a team and placed 11th. Knox College won the tournament with a 298.

"I was pleased how Bradley Vaith hung in there about a very difficult start," NIACC coach Chris Frenz said. "That's great to see."

Tuesday's tournament was played in extremely cold and windy conditions.

Also for the Trojans, Jack Barragy shot 85, Eric Ritter shot 90, Kai Nelles shot 91 and Andrew Crane shot 92. Hunter Heintz shot a non-counting

"This wasn't a good day for us (Tuesday)," Frenz said. "This will be a short term memory type of day.

"It was a rough day weatherwise, but we just couldn't get anything going and it snowballed from there. The thing I noticed today was that none of them put their heads down, which is a huge improvement over the fall when they beat themselves up a lot."

NIACC returns to action Tuesday, April 5 at the Clarke University Invitational at the Galena Golf Club in Galena, Ill.

"We'll hopefuly get a couple of good days of weather to practice between now and next Tuesday when we go to Galena," Frenz said.

Team standings - Knox College 298, William Penn 305, Central College 308, Waldorf University 313, Monmouth College 318, Knox College B 319, Central College B 328, Iowa Wesleyan 329, William Penn B 331, Simpson College 340, NIACC 347, Blackburn College 351.