Hounds Place 2nd at Empire 8 Championship; Maru, Smith & Kunkle Earn All-Conference Honors
HERSHEY, Pa. --- The Moravian College golf team finished second of eight teams at the 2015-16 Empire 8 Conference Championships with a team score of 1,260 after a 322 in the final round Sunday at the Hershey Country Club.
HERSHEY, Pa. --- The Moravian College golf team finished second of eight teams at the 2015-16 Empire 8 Conference Championships with a team score of 1,260 after a 322 in the final round Sunday at the Hershey Country Club.
Nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College won the team title with a 1,222 to earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championships while Stevens Institute of Technology was third with a 1,282, just two strokes ahead of the University of Scranton. The Empire 8 Championship is played over two weekends with the first two rounds in September in New York and the final two rounds in April at Hershey.
The Greyhounds had three players earn Empire 8All-Conference honors with senior Jim Maru earning First Team accolades as he tied for second with a 72-hole total of 309 after an 83 in the final round on Sunday. Maru receives All-Conference honors for the second time in his career after being on the Second Team in 2013-14. Sophomores Tyler Smith and Kevin Kunkle finished in a tie for ninth at 317 to garner spots on the Second Team. Smith, who was last year's Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and a member of the All-Conference Second Team, had Moravian's low-round on the final 18 holes with a 76 while Kunkle fired an 82 on Sunday.
Junior Dan Leppert was 15th in the field of 37 golfers that played all 72 holes over the two weekends, and Leppert carded an 85 to finish with a 327 total. Senior Evan Dickinson was one stroke back in 16th with a 328 after an 81 in the final round. Freshman Kody Long rounded out Moravian's spring line-up and had an 83 on Sunday.
The Greyhounds are scheduled to close out their 2015-16 season on Tuesday, April 19 at the Messiah College Invitational at the Blue Ridge Country Club.
