Gannon University’s men’s and women’s golf teams each had quite the weekend. Both teams participated in the Mercyhurst Spring Invitational, with the men’s team competing Saturday-Sunday and the women’s team competing Monday.

The men’s team came in second place among 10 teams, while the women placed first, taking home the title Monday. The women’s team also competed at the Gannon Spring Invitational Saturday-Sunday and finished second. That same event for the men was supposed to take place Monday but was canceled.

At the Gannon Spring Invitational, the women finished six strokes behind Mercyhurst, which won the event at Whispering Woods Golf Club in Erie. Alyssa Drehs posted the top score for Gannon with a 155 through two days. Gannon had four other top 10 individual finishers in Madison Gardner (tied for fifth), Maria Arenas (seventh), Samantha Gaffney (tied for eighth) and Sarah White (10^th).

In their victory Monday, the Knights finished 13 strokes ahead of second-place Mercyhurst, and the Gannon B-team finished third with a total score of 343.

White won the individual title, posting a 78 in one round. The win didn’t come easy, as she had to play two extra playoff holes to separate herself from Mercyhurst’s Isabella Walter, who finished second.

Roxanne Garceau (79), Drehs (80) and Arenas (81) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, giving Gannon four players in the top five.

In its only action of the weekend, the men’s team tied for second place at the Mercyhurst Spring Invitational, which took place at the Lake View Country Club in North East, posting a team score of 612 over two rounds. The Knights finished just one stroke behind first-place California University of Pennsylvania.

Abe Holmes was Gannon’s best golfer, finishing tied for second with a two-round score of 148. Behind Holmes, the Knights had two others finish in the top five. Clayton Skoff and Mark Majewski each finished with a score of 150, tying for fifth place in the event.

The men will now prepare for the NCAA Atlantic/East Regional, which will take place May 6-8 at the Lake View Country Club course that they just played at. The women’s team will hope to travel to the Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., for the NCAA East Super Regional May 3-5 .

Both teams are talented enough to make some noise at the NCAA level. The women’s team is coming off its second straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) title, and the men were slotted in at No. 1 in the most recent NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rankings, announced Friday.

The NCAA will announce the selections for the 2021 regionals Friday. If both teams make it into their respective regionals, look out for them in early May.

ALEX PEPKE
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