The Kent State men’s golf team finished in third place in the Boilermaker Invite on Saturday behind four under-par performances.

“Our guys always love going there and competing,” coach Jon Mills said.  “We had a good week– it was one we really needed. We needed to play well and we had a couple of little issues at the beginning and they stepped up and played well.”

The event, hosted by the University of Purdue, included 13 teams, with two being in the nation’s Top-40 teams.

The teams were Oklahoma, who is Golfstat’s 11th-ranked team in the nation, and Purdue, who is the 38th-ranked team.

They were the only two teams to place above Kent State this weekend.

“As a team, we putted better, we made a lot more birdies and I feel like we’ve been struggling with that,” Mills said. “Overall, the team prepared better going into this week and they showed up ready to play and it showed based on the result.”

Day 1

In the first day of competition, junior Luca Civello was hit with a ball and was out for the first two rounds of play.

Freshman Ben MacLean led the Flashes on the first day.

MacLean shot a four-under par 67 on the day, including a total of five birdies. 

Two other players, senior Chris Vandette and sophomore Jordan Gilkison, shot a one-under par 70.

The team finished with a total score of 2-under par 282, which was good enough for fifth place at the conclusion of day one play.

Day 2

The Flashes played 2 rounds on the final day of competition on Saturday.

Vandette and senior Cade Breitenstine each shot a 5-under par 137 through both rounds, with Vandette shooting a 68 and a 69 in the third round and Breitenstine shooting a 69 and a 68 in the third round.

MacLean and Gilkison stayed under par on the second day, and Civello returned to the team in the final round after his injury. He shot an even-par 71 in his only round.

All four players who played every round shot under par for Kent State.

Vandette ended the day six strokes under par, MacLean was five strokes under, Gilikson was four strokes under, and Breitenstine was one stroke under par.

“It was the practice all spring just starting to pay off,” Mills said. “The other thing that we made a point of is myself and my assistant walking with them individually instead of seeing them sporadically through the rounds, so that helps as well.”

The team finished with a combined score of 836, 16-under par.

The four players who played every round placed individually in the top 20.

Vandette led the team and finished tied-sixth overall, with MacLean finishing tied-eighth, and Gilikson tied-tenth. Breitenstine rounded out the team with a tied-17th finish.

“I truly believe they’re all capable of doing that at any given week,” Mills said. “It was just one of those weeks that they all did at the same time, which was needed because the talent we have on our team is very high but we haven’t proven that on a consistent basis. So I’m hoping this is the point where they start to realize how good they are. Hopefully we’ll continue into Ohio State this week and then ultimately into the MAC conference championship.”

This was the team’s best result since its tied-second-place finish at Northwestern’s Windon Memorial event on Sept. 26.

The team has finished in the top seven in six of their nine events this season.

“We’ve had a lot of talks about better focus in practice and being more efficient and having a little more grit – that competitive mindset,” Mills said. “I think it was definitely visible. I definitely saw that this past week at Purdue and so the goal is not to be happy with the finish at Purdue and feel like we need to be even better than last week.”

Looking ahead

The team will play its next event in Columbus at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate event.

The event will take place Fri. April 21, and will run until Sun. April 23.

“I’d really like to see how we play in Ohio State just to see a little bit of consistency, because we have had weeks where we play really well and then the next week, we don’t play very well,” Mills said. “I definitely feel like we’re trending in the right direction.”

Last season, at the same event, KSU ended the competition with a tied-fourth result and a one-over-par finish.

This will be the team’s last event before the conference and national tournaments begin.

“I think our expectations are always high when we go there,” Mills said. “It’s an event that is kind of a home event being in Ohio and I know a lot of our guys love playing there. I am hoping that we use that confidence that we gained this weekend and I don’t see why we can’t go there and win.”

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected]