(San Jacinto, CA) With the best finish in two years, the Mt. SAC Men's Golf Team took second out of 16 teams in the Eagle Golf Classic, at the Soboba Springs Country Club in San Jacinto.
The Mounties finished with a team score of 382, five shots behind champion Orange Coast College who finished at 377.
All six Mountie golfers finished under 80 in the shotgun tourney.
"The exciting thing is that we did well as a team," replied Mt. SAC Men's Head Coach Greg Osbourne. "Once we started putting it together, we could be real good. It's exciting and encouraging."
The top placer for the Mounties was sophomore Dylan Stone who shot 73, just one over on the par-72 course. Stone tied for second out of nearly 100 golfers, just one shot off the top individual score of 72.
With the finish, the Mounties moved up to third in the very tough Orange Empire Conference (OEC) standings.
Orange Coast College, which defeated five other colleges with a 5-0 record, is in a first-place tie with Cypress (3-2), both with 8-2 overall records, Next is Mt. SAC (4-1) in third at 5-5, Riverside City College (1-4) in fourth at 5-5, Saddleback (2-3) in fifth at 4-6 and Irvine Valley College (0-5) at 0-10.
"A lot of the coaches I know were amazed that we beat all of these teams in only our second year back," said Osbourne, who re-started the men's team last season.
The Mountie men's program had been on hiatus since 2008.
"It's not easy starting a program," Osbourne added.
Stone, who shot a 79 in the Point Conception tournament last month, entered the Eagle Classic as a No. 5 golfer.
"If he could play this well every time, he could lead the team," Osbourne said.
Stone made some very good shots to be 1-over. On his first hole Stone was on the green in two, putting for an eagle, finishing with a two-putt for a birdie.
"That is always a good sign on the first hole," Osbourne said.
Stone qualified for the CCCAA State Championship Tournament last season.
Sophomore Cole Albert and freshman James Johnson, who was Mt. SAC's No. 1, shot 76 and 77 respectively.
On his last shot of the tournament, Albert (Mounties #2) with teammates cheering him on, sank an amazing 20-footer to propel the team to the second-place finish.
"He made a great saving putt," Osbourne said.
In the final score of the tournament, Mt. SAC and Cypress tied at 382, but the tie was broken by each teams number 6 player. Cypress' No. 6 had an 82 while Mt. SAC No. 6, David Gillette, finished his round with a 79 to break the tie.
Curtis Ashton along with freshman Tyler Poepping each finished with a score of 78.
"For a freshman playing that course he (Poepping) held it together really well," said Osbourne, after Poepping started off 5 over par.
On February 26th, Mt. SAC will compete in the Riverside Invitational at the Virginia Country Club.
The next OEC match (No. 3) will be held on March 7th at the Candlewood CC in Whittier.
Mt. SAC will host OEC match No. 5 at its home course, Industry Hills Golf Course (Pacific Palms Conference Resort) in the City of Industry, on Monday, March 19.
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.