This week, the Binghamton golf team competed at the Sacred Heart University Spring Invitational, placing second out of six teams. The Bearcats led after round one, but a round two surge from the hosts pushed BU down to second place. This is the highest BU team finish since the 2018-2019 campaign. Two Bearcats finished in the top five and not a single Binghamton athlete finished below 29th place.

The team’s performance was highlighted by senior D.J. Griffiths continuing a career year. Griffiths shot 71 in round one and ended the day tied for first place. The Bearcat was unable to replicate the under-par performance on day two, however. Griffiths finished only one over par in the second round, earning him an even finish for the tournament. His score of 144 placed him at a tie for third place. Before this season, Griffiths had compiled three top-10 finishes in his collegiate career. This spring, he has earned that feat in back-to-back tournaments.

Graduate student Justin Lane had a rocky start, finishing round one tied for 17th place with 77 strokes. The graduate student flipped the script on day two, however, earning the second-best score of the day at 70 to rocket him to fifth place. He finished at 147 and three strokes over par.

In the middle of the Binghamton lineup was freshman Shawn Colella who earned the second top-20 finish of his collegiate career. The Bearcat shot 77 on both days to tie for 16th place. He tied with fellow BU freshman Ryan Millevoi. This is Millevoi’s first top-20 finish as a Bearcat. Millevoi played as an individual and his score did not count toward BU’s tally.

The team’s performance was rounded out by junior Evan Sitts and senior Scott Kleeschulte. Sitts just missed the top 20, tying for 21st with a score of 11 over. The junior opened up play with a 76 in round one, good enough to tie for ninth, but struggled in round two, shooting a 79. Kleeschulte finished 15 over, placing 29th. Graduate student Nacho Glagovsky participated as an individual and finished tied for 27th with a score of 158.

The five team competitors gathered a total of 598 strokes, five behind SHU for first place. The Bearcats finished seven strokes ahead of Bryant University, who finished in the bronze position. There were 42 golfers at the tournament, and 12 of them competed individually.

Binghamton is next slated to travel to the Wildcat Spring Invitational from Monday, April 18 to Tuesday, April 19. The tournament is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. at Radnor Valley Country Club in Villanova, Pennsylvania.