Bittersweet was the word of the day for the Barton Community College men's golf team as the 15th ranked Cougars concluded the two-day, fifty-four hole District Championships held at Newton's Sand Creek Station Golf Course
Shooting a combined score of 27-over 891, Barton's fifth place finish missed the NJCAA's toughest district's four automatic bids. The Cougars' still have an outside shot for an at-large bid but will play the waiting game in hopes of continuing the season.
Despite the team's disappointment, Barton will be well represented at the national tournament as the disappointment was celebration as Adrien Bonnet received an automatic berth placing within the Top-10 of the individual leaderboard. The freshman from France got off to a great Monday morning start firing a 2-under 70 to offset the afternoon's round of 2-over 74 to sleep on a borderline 9th place. Returning to the course in near perfect conditions on Tuesday, Bonnet solidified his national tournament with a 1-over 73 to finish at 1-over for the three days with a 217 score. The 8th placing matched Landon Fox' 2015 achievement as the Cougars last national qualifier.
Holding true to the national rankings, top ranked Indian Hills Community College ran away with the District crown by twenty-seven strokes with a combined impressive 39-uner 825. The Warriors also grabbed the top three and four of the top five spots with Julien Sale's opening 7-under 65 leading wire-to-wire in a final score of 14-under 202.
Finishing runner-up was 12th ranked Dodge City with a 12-under 852 while 6th ranked Iowa Western also shot below par at 3-under 861. 13th ranked Hutchinson earned the final automatic qualifier a 8-over 872 to outdistance the Cougars while 23rd ranked Garden City finished seven strokes behind Barton with a 345-over 898.
Bonnet added another achievement on the day by finishing fourth among region competitors to earn 1st Team All-Region recognition with fellow freshman Ryotaro Tsuji also earning region honors placing 8th to garner 2nd Team distinction. Tsuji made the largest climb up the leaderboard through the final two rounds, opening with a 77 to shoot 3-und the rest of the way with a 1-under 70 to conclude Monday's action in firing a 2-under final round to place 12th overall with a 2-over 218.
Kylian Cavdar's final round of 1-over 73 leaped ahead of teammate Thitipong Homruen for 27th overall at 12-over 228. Homruen opened with a 2-over 74 before sliding down the leaderboard to 28th with a 13-over 229. Oscar Elfvin rounded out the team entries with a 39th placing 21-over 237.
Barton also had two individuals in the tournament with Jacob Roth finishing tied for 31st at 16-over 232 while Kelby Titus tied for 36th at 19-over 235.