The North Central Missouri College Pirates, with a team score of 606, finished in 4th place in the eight-team Missouri Valley Fall Invitational held on Monday and Tuesday at the Indian Foothills Course in Marshall.
Top honors went to Missouri Valley’s Hamish Gorn with a seven-under par score of 137 over the two-day event, including a blistering 64 shot on Monday. Second-place Bethany College (Kansas) shot 599 as a team, 39 shots behind the champions from Missouri Valley, with Bethany’s Birgir Mangnusson breaking a run of Viking players by finishing fourth as 142, as Missouri Valley boasted four of the top five finishing positions.
The top score for NCMC, an even par 144, earned Lewis Hopkinson a sixth place finish. Other NCMC scores included a 150 (six over par) for Trenton native and Pirate freshman Lathan Croy, 15th place (+9/153) for James Gardner, with Cody Glenn 23rd (+11/155), Scott Swayne, Kade Meineka, and Jasper van der Zon part of a 26th place tie (+12/156), while Parmin Kamm shot 157 for 30th place (+13) and Colton Barnes was in a 42nd place tie at 22 over par 166.
North Central’s fourth place tally of 606 was five strokes behind third place Evangel’s 601, but 14 strokes better than the 620 from sixth-place Kansas City Kansas CC.
Pirate men’s golf coach Craig Sager remarked to NCMCPirates.com, “Lathan Croy made a step in the right direction after a disappointing finish at Graceland. We knew he was a 70’s player and that it would take a little time to get acclimated to this level of play. He did it faster than expected and I think he’ll keep progressing. James also had a great tournament. Setting his new personal best at 76 will help his confidence!  I’d be very surprised if there’s another team in the NJCAA as consistent through their roster as we are at this point in the season. All of our guys can play and as we keep learning more about ourselves the scores should keep falling!”
