HERSHEY, Pa. --- The Moravian College golf team tied for the best team score of the spring with a two-day team total of 642 in the two rounds at the Hershey Country Club, and the Greyhounds finished third overall in the four-round Empire 8 Conference Championships that concluded Saturday.
Moravian finished the tournament, which includes two rounds in September at a rotating course in New York and two rounds at the Hershey Country Club each April, with a team score of 1,292, seven strokes behind runner-up Stevens Institute of Technology. Saint John Fisher College defended its conference title with a 1,250.
The Greyhounds did have two All-Conference honorees with junior Tyler Smith finishing fourth overall with a 314 to earn a spot on the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team after being on the Second Team the last two years. Smith was also the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in 2015. Sophomore Kody Long placed sixth in the tournament with a 320 for a spot on the All-Conference Second Team.
Long would turn in the low card of the final round with a two-over par 73 that included three birdies and 11 pars and helped Long move from a tie for 11th to sixth place overall. Smith, who had entered the day in second and one stroke off of the lead, battled a nagging injury and had five pars on the way to a round of 86 for his fourth place showing.
"I was very proud of how the guys battled this weekend," stated Head Coach Kevin Edwards. "The course played tough and we had the two low rounds for the weekend with Kody's 73 today and Tyler's 74 yesterday. The guys really came together this weekend and supported each other."
Senior Dan Leppert had an 89 in the final round that included a birdie and six pars as he finished 13th of the 37 golfers to play all four rounds with a 72-hole total of 332. Junior Kevin Kunkle placed 16th in the tournament with a 336 after a final round 84 that included a birdie and six pars while sophomore Joe Rochelle was tied for 20th in the field at 342 after an 82 closing round with one birdie and eight pars. Freshman Nick Kuhn played just the two spring rounds for Moravian and had a 94 on Saturday with a birdie and three pars.
The Greyhounds are slated to close out their 2016-17 season at the Glenmaura National Collegiate Invitational on April 23-24.
