LEXINGTON, KY. – The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's golf team saw its season end at the Great Midwest Championships on Saturday. The Panthers carded three similar rounds at the University Club of Kentucky Big Blue Course to place ninth out of 12 teams.
 
As play opened on Friday, the Panthers navigated their way into the back-nine near the top of the leaderboard. However, the closing six holes yielded high numbers all weekend. Wesleyan was no-exception as they saw their team total rise to 314 in the first round. In-and-out of showers with strong winds, Collins Dodson posted the lowest opening round score of five over par 77. Christian Tooley was a shot behind at 78 while Alex Phillips carded a 79.
 
Rain showers picked-up at the start of the second round as the course became longer with the wind and damp turf. The conditions had little effect on Tooley, as he plotted his way around Big Blue with one of the best scores of the day. Tooley produced the lone birdie of the day on the 15^th hole and followed with another birdie on 16 to pull back to even par on his round. A bogey on 17 followed as Tooley posted a one-over par 73 to move into 11^th place.
 
Collins Dodson navigated the final six holes in near impressive fashion as he was one-under par as well in that stretch to post a second round of three over par 75. The round also propelled Dodson up the leaderboard to 13^th.
 
The Panthers shot a second round of 314 as Carter Dodson posted a round of 79 while Samuel Bland fired a round of 87. Phillips helped Wesleyan to final round of 315 with a closing round of five over par 77. He placed 50^th after three rounds of 79-88-77.
 
Tooley's putter was not as sharp in the final round as he posted a round of 82. His three-round total of 233 placed 27^th overall out of 60 players. Collins birdied two of his last three holes in the final round to finish with a 76. His 54-hole total of 228 placed in a tie for 19^th. His brother carded a final round of 80 and three-round total of 239 to finish 44^th. Bland recorded rounds of 82-87-84 to close out the Championship.
 
"I was happy to see us compete all weekend," said Head Coach Ken Badylak. "We gained valuable experience with two guys going through this process for the first time in their careers. This closing stretch is as tough as it gets throughout our season and in our final two rounds, we navigated it well. Our roster will get deeper next year and I feel with more competition our top-five will only produce lower scores."
 
Trevecca Nazarene returned as team champion after a year absence, coming-back to catch Malone in the final round. The Trojans trailed the Pioneers by two shots heading into the final round, but emerged with a third round of two-under par 286 to win the title by 11-shots over Findlay. Blain Turner won the a one-hole playoff to take medalist honors over teammate Lakren Whittemore.
 
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