GAYLORD, Mich. - The Lake Superior State men's and women's golf programs competed at the Lawrence Tech University Blue Devil Classic at the Tradition at Treetops Golf Course in Gaylord, Mich. on Monday and Tuesday. The men utilized an impressive second round to climb to a third place finish while the women's strong opening day carried them to second place.
Women
The women's team took an early lead at the event with their round one score of 318 having them in first place after the opening day by ten strokes, but they would finish in second place after an equal score of 318 in the second round. Freshman Lekisha Sasitharan (Shah Alam, Malaysia) provided an impressive showing in her collegiate debut, spending the majority of the event in first place individually before a second place overall finish with a combined 153 strokes, but she would not be the only freshman making themselves known early as Iman Shah (Lahore, Pakistan) utilized an eight-stroke improvement on the second day to climb to seventh place individually. Jessica Hellebuyck (Almont, Mich.), Marie Mathieu (Marshall, Mich.), and Julia Vess (New Hudson, Mich.) rounded out their team all tied for ninth overall with Vess having held the No. 2 position on the leaderboard after the first 18 holes.
Men
The men shot even on par as a team on the second day of competition, climbing from sixth to finish third overall. They were highlighted by the performance of Braden Falk (Portage, Mich.) who shot one stroke under par in both rounds to claim fourth place on the individual leaderboard. Marko Banic (Calgary, Alb.) joined his teammate in the top-ten after a two-day score of 145. Callum McKay (Calgary, Alb.) had arguably the most impressive second day on the men's team by improving by ten strokes and shooting one under par to climb back up to 18th overall with Grant Baker (Woodslee, Ont.) right behind him at 22nd, and Charley Stephen (Oshawa, Ont.) rounded out the day with a combined total of 154.
The Lakers return to action with the women traveling to Allendale, Mich. for the women's Grand Valley State University Invite on Sunday, Sept. 25 and the men competing next at the Tiffin University Invite in Tiffin, Ohio.