Golf placed eighth in their second-to-last tournament before the A-10 Championship, shooting a 22-over, 874 at the SeattleU Redhawk Invitational on Tuesday.
The Colonials, who seemed to be riding a wave of momentum coming off of three-straight top-three tournament finishes, finished 21 strokes behind the victorious Idaho, who fired a three-round 853. Freshman Manuel Barbachano led the way for GW with a three-over-par performance, good enough to position him in a tie for 15th, outpacing seniors Jakub Hrinda and Hugo Riboud by seven and 10 strokes, respectively.
The eighth-place finish marks the lowest-place finish for the team all season, and the 22 strokes over par number is their highest since late September at the Howard Intercollegiate, where the team’s 40-over-par performance was enough to earn them a second-place finish.
The penultimate regular season tournament took place in Seattle, Washington, where GW hoped to continue their streak of top-three finishes. Instead, the five-man team was dragged down by a messy second-round showing of 297, nine strokes higher than their first round 288 and eight strokes worse than the final-round performance of 289.
Despite the disappointing team performance, Barbachano’s final round 68, that featured five birdies, underscores the young core that, in combination with the more experienced Hrinda and Riboud, Head Coach Chuck Scheinost has been excited about all year.
“We’ve broken almost every record in program history in one year,” Coach Scheinost said in an interview last week. “Jakub has come a long way since his freshman year, he’s really developed. Hugo has stepped up his game and though the last couple tournaments haven’t gone his way, he’s improved drastically.”
The slipup will have no concrete bearing on the team’s A-10 Championship hopes. With no seeding, every team enters the tournament on equal footing, and the tournament winner is determined purely on the best three-round team score, but it will likely not bode well for the Colonials’ national rankings.
With no tournament wins on the board, but plenty of stellar individual performances that include victories from Hrinda and Barbachano, the Colonials have been looking for a solid, all-around showing to bolster their confidence heading into the A-10 Championship. GW placed second in their previous tournament, the Golden Horseshoe Invitational, falling just two strokes short in the final round.
“I think the nerves of trying to get that first win got to us a little bit,” Coach Scheinost said in an interview last week. “But we’re gonna get there. I truly believe that this team is special, and I think in these next couple weeks, if we continue to be ourselves, we’re gonna be in a position to have the results we wanted to have this year.”
Freshman Rodrigo Barahona turned in a 13 over 226, bringing up the rear for the team, but improving steadily throughout his three rounds, starting with a 78, followed by a 75 and finishing with a 73.
The Colonials will move on to the final regular season tournament of the long season as they head to Pittsburgh for The Redhawk Intercollegiate April 17.