Minyen and Pillion lead the way in Pride golf's return to action

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Getting their first taste of action for their spring season, the Clarke University golf teams competed for the first time since late October at the Graceland Spring Invitational at Mozingo Lake Golf Course on Friday and Saturday in Maryville, Mo. to a second place women's team finish and 10th place men's team finish.

On the women's side for the Pride, three of their five members in the lineup produced top 10 placements in the individual field with Sydney Minyen's pair of 86 scores finishing the freshman in a tie for fifth just ahead of Amalia Ortega's first round 86 and second round 87 to place in seventh then Holly Elliott shot matching 88 first and second round scores to tie for 10th.

Rose Halle's first round 98 and second round 90 and Rose McCartney's first round 101 followed by a second round 92 allowed each Rose to climb up the leader board from their first 18 holes to their second as Halle bumped up five spots and McCartney moved 10 spots better to help CU shoot 358 and 351 in each respective round for that second place finish, 35 strokes ahead of third place but 44 strokes behind event winner Indian Hills Community College.

Clarke's men competed with a four-player team that included Brendan Pillion, Peyton Roth, Luke Schockemoehl, and Cody Leon as the team produced a first round score of 350 and significantly improved in round two to a 324 with Pillion shooting going from an 87 in the first round to 77 in the second round to finish at a 23rd place individual finish to lead the group.

Schockemoehl competed for the first time since transferring to CU between semesters to produce a 27th place finish after scoring 82 and 83 in each respective round, Roth was able to shoot 11 strokes between between rounds one and two to a 36th place following a first round 89 and second round 78, and Leon rounded out the scoring with a two-round total of 178.

Pride golf will be back in action in a little over a week when they compete in their lone home tournament of the spring at Eagle Ridge Resort's North Course on Apr. 6-7 for the Clarke Spring Invite.