The Barton Community College men's golf team again proved it's a force in the conference as the 15th ranked Cougars finished runner-up in the KJCCC Championship held the last two days at Wichita's Auburn Hills Golf Course.
Opening Monday's action with a 306, the Cougars carded sub-300 scores of 296 and 295 in the final two rounds of the 54-hole Championship to finish at 33-over 897 for the highest conference placing of Doug Kaiser's eight years at the helm.
Barton had three golfers in the top seven of the standings, led by Adrien Bonnet's 6th place 4-over 220. Bonnet climbed out of the 11th spot from the 4-over 76 first round as the freshman from France shot even par in the final two rounds.
Thitipong Homruen and Ryotaro Tsuji finished a stroke behind to tie for the 7th place carding identical 76-72-73 rounds for a 5-over 221.
Jacob Roth, who along with Tsuji competed as individuals, opened up with the first round's third best score of even par before finishing at 10-over 226 in 11th place of the fifty-one man tournament with 75 and 79 rounds.
Kylian Cavdar finished in a five-man log jam at 11-over for the 13th slot moving up from his opening 6-over 78 23rd spot with 74 and 75 rounds on the card.
Oscar Elfvin's 4-over was good for 11th after first round action but slipped to 19th after ensuing 78 and 75 scores.
Normally competing as an individual but one of the hottest golfers on the squad, Kelby Titus was moved to the five-man team for the Championship shooting 79 and 80 in Monday's two rounds before firing a 3-over par 75 to move up in the standings to 27th with the 18-over 234 accumulated score.
12th ranked Dodge City Community College captured the Championship behind three golfers in the top four on the leaderboard to finish twenty-six strokes ahead with a combined 9-over 873. 13th ranked Hutchinson Community College was four strokes behind the Cougars with a 37-over 901 while 23rd ranked Garden City finished in fourth at 42-over 906.
Barton, along with its fellow KJCCC competitors, will reunite for the Region VI and District III Championships to be held April 23-24 at Newton's Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
First Team All-Conference:
Thitipong Homruen
Second Team All-Conference:
Adrien Bonnet
Kilby Titus
Ryotaro Tsuji
Honorable Mention:
Kylian Cavdar
Complete KJCCC Championship Results
Team Standings:
1) #12 Dodge City CC (288-301-284) – 873 (+9)
2) #15 Barton CC (306-296-295) – 897 (+33)
3) #13 Hutchinson CC (306-300-295) – 901 (+37)
4) #23 Garden City CC (314-296-296) – 906 (+42)
5) Kansas City Kansas CC (308-304-301) – 913 (+49)
6) Coffeyville CC (320-325-321) – 966 (+102)
7) Allen County CC (324-340-354) – 1018 (+154)
Barton Individual Results:
6th – Adrien Bonnet (76-72-72) – 330 (+4)
T-7th – Thitipong Homruen (76-72-73) and *Ryotaro Tsuji (76-72-73) – 221 (+5)
T-11th – *Jacob Roth (72-75-79) – 226 (+10)
T-13th – Kylian Cavdar (78-74-75) – 227 (+11)
19th – Oscar Elfvin (76-78-75) – 229 (+13)
T-27th – Kelby Titus (79-80-75) – 234 (+18)
*Competed as an individual