Oct. 15, 2003

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Southeast men's golf played strong at Eastern Illinois' Ironhorse Invitational this past Monday and Tuesday, finishing alongside Youngstown State in fourth place out of a large 18-team field. The fourth place finish was Southeast's highest so far this season.

Many Indians golfers played good golf over the two-day, three round tournament. Mark Schmitz turned in another great performance, finishing the highest of any Southeast golfer in 13th place with a total score of 230. Brandon Couch shot the best round of any Southeast player, shooting a 71 in the first round on Monday. He came in 21st place overall. Matt Hillis and Zack Decker were also forces for Southeast, with each placing 27th overall.

Four Ohio Valley Conference Schools competed at the Invitational. Aside from the host school and Southeast, Tennessee State and Martin were both entered in to play. Southeast finished ahead of every OVC school but Tennessee State, who came in second place overall.

Western Illinois was the overall winning team of the tournament and Butler University finished in third place overall. Eastern Illinois' Dustin Sloat finished with the best overall score in the field, shooting a 219. Three other golfers tied for the second best finish in the field. Ryan Runser of overall winner Western Illinois was one of those players, who also shot the best round of any player the entire tournament, shooting a 66 in the first round on the first day. Jonathan Novak of Butler and Shawn Marshall of Evansville were the other two players to be tied with Runser for the second best overall finish.

Weather conditions were brutal the final day of action. A frigid cold front brought in temperatures around 45 degrees and winds swirled up to 30 mph, not to mention the bouts of rain players had to deal with. Conditions were so bad that all but eight players entered into the field shot over 80 the final day of play.

Southeast golf will next see action on next Monday and Tuesday, as the team will compete in the SMS Highland Spring Invitational, which will be hosted by Southwest Missouri State University at the Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Mo.