Eagles place top-five at Fall Invitational

MERIDIAN - The Meridian Community College golf team closed out the MCC Rush Fall Invitational with a final round 302 to earn a top five finish. The season-opening tournament was hosted by Eagles and was played at Briarwood Country Club.

Freshman Cory Williamson picked up where he left off on day one, finishing with a final round two-over par 74 to place 12th. The Collins, MS native shot 76-74 in the first two rounds. Freshman Garrett Westbrook closed out the tournament with a two-over par 74 to finish in a tie for 13th-place. Freshman John Cleveland shot a four-over 76 to finish with 227 strokes and in 15th-place. Freshmen Mark Drube and Nick Hawkes posted top-20 showings. Drube shot 229 (76-73-80) to place 18th place while Hawkes shot 203 (77-75-78) to tie for 19th place. Sophomore Clay Bounds finished the event with back-to-back rounds of four-over par, 76 to shoot 237 and tie for 32nd. Freshmen Chris Cochran (80-76-83), Tanner Sparks (81-77-83), Matthews Stephens (91-85-88), and Tyler Rainer (94-97-97) closed out the scoring for MCC’s B-team.
Central Alabama’s Lewis Gruber and Barrett Milam finished in first-place with a three-under par 213 strokes. Milam won on the first playoff hole to solidify his win with rounds of 75-69-69.

Central Alabama (871) won the tournament; the Trojans shot rounds of 294-291-286. Darton (GA) College and Wallace State came in second place with 886 strokes, followed by University of Mobile with 901 strokes. Host school Meridian finished in fifth with 904 strokes.

William Carey University (920) earned a sixth place finish. Faulkner State (951) came in seventh, followed by MS Gulf Coast (951) and East Central (1002).
Meridian returns to action next week when they travel to Marion, Illinois for the John A. Logan Invitational, September 14-15 at renowned Kokopelli Golf Club.

MCC Scoring:
12th Cory Williamson 76-74-74 224 (+8)
t13th Garrett Westbrook 75-77-74 226 (+10)
15th John Cleveland 76-75-76 227 (+11)
18th Mark Drube 76-73-80 229 (+13)
t19th Nick Hawkes 77-75-78 203 (+14)
t32nd Clay Bounds 85-76-76 237 (+21)
t36th Chris Cochran 80-76-83 239 (+23)
t41st Tanner Sparks 81-77-83 241 (+25)
56th Matthew Stephens 91-85-88 264 (+48)
58th Tyler Rainer 94-97-97 288 (+72)

Teams:
1st Central Alabama 871 (294-291-286)
2nd Darton (GA) College 886 (301-292-293)
3rd Wallace State (AL) 886 (300-291-295)
4th Univ. of Mobile (AL) 901 (305-298-298)
5th Meridian C.C. (MS) 904 (304-298-302)
6th William Carey Univ (MS) 920 (305-311-304)
t7th Faulkner State (AL) 951 (316-322-313)
t7th MS Gulf Coast C.C. 951 (317-320-314)
9th East Central (MS) C.C. 1002 (342-328-332)