Wright State’s Goecke wins league title; Raiders finish as runners-up

Coming off a 10-stroke win last year at the El Campeon course at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., they overcame a ho-hum first round with solid play and were tied with Purdue Fort Wayne with nine holes to go in the final round Tuesday.

The veteran Raiders made the mistakes coming in, though, shooting a six-over-par 294 for an 11-over 875 total. They fell by five to the Mastodons, who shot 2-over 290s all three days.

“It (stinks) right now, but that’s sports,” second-year coach Conner Lash said. “You’ve got to show up and perform every day. We didn’t have our best stuff, and that’s what happens.”

The Raiders had the individual champ in Tyler Goecke, who went 73-70-69 for a 4-under 212. The senior from Carroll tied for first with PFW’s Kasey Lilly and won it with a short birdie putt on the second playoff hole.

Senior Mikkel Mathiesen, trying to became only the second back-to-back winner in the 43-year history of the event, finished in a tie for fourth. He shot 72-71-72 for a 1-under 215.

“It’s always good to see one of your players do well and win it,” Lash said of Goecke, who was named HL golfer of the year last season. “He deserves it. He’s worked hard. I’m really happy for him.”

But a runner-up finish was not what the Raiders were expecting. They’ve gone first, second, first and second in the last four league tourneys.

They met PFW in Ball State’s 15-team tourney Sept 2-3. The Raiders won and clobbered the 13th-place Mastodons by 48 strokes over three rounds.

“That’s kind of how it goes — you want your team to get better as the year goes on,” Lash said. “You come down here, and it’s three days. If you show up and you’re ready to play some good golf, good things are going to happen.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re ranked or what happened during the season. It comes down to the conference championship.”

Senior Davis Root tied for 14th at 224, junior Andrew Flynn tied for 19th at 226 and senior Cole Corder tied for 26th at 228.

Five players tee it up with four scores counting each day. And while those were respectable finishes, the three combined to play the last three holes in the final round 12-over par.

“I wasn’t around to exactly see what happened on those last holes,” Lash said, meaning he was following other groups. “There’s some tough holes, and you have to hit good shots. If you don’t, you can get in trouble. That’s kind of what happened.”

The Raiders were trying to become the program’s second back-to-back champions, joining the 1996 and ‘97 teams.

“The first round was probably the windiest of the three days. We made some bad swings that cost us early,” said Lash, whose squad was third after the opening 18 holes, six shots back.

“We were behind the 8-ball, but we fought back. I’m proud of my guys.”