Jon Colten Stanaland (left) and Mark Connelly placed first and second in the Emory Invitational. Stanaland earned medalist honors with a two-round 3-under-par 137. Connelly finished with a 1-under 139. (Photo submitted)
Jon Colten Stanaland (left) and Mark Connelly placed first and second in the Emory Invitational. Stanaland earned medalist honors with a two-round 3-under-par 137. Connelly finished with a 1-under 139. (Photo submitted)
Posted: Apr 08, 2018

Stanaland and Connelly place 1st and 2nd in Emory Invitational

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – Senior Jon Colten Stanaland won his first collegiate tournament and junior Mark Connelly finished second to lead the Huntingdon men's golf team to a second-place finish in the Emory Invitational on Sunday.

Stanaland, who shot his best collegiate round on Saturday with a 3-under-par 67, followed up with an even-par 70 in the final round to finish with a 3-under 137. Connelly shot a 2-under 68 in the final round and finished two strokes behind Stanaland with a 1-under 139.

This is the third straight season a Hawk has earned medalist honors in the Emory Invitational.

As a team, the second-ranked Hawks shot 5-over 285 in each round and finished with a 10-over 570. Third-ranked Emory was the tournament champion with a 4-over 564 and the Emory B-Team was third with a 16-over 576. Top-ranked Methodist was fourth with a 17-over 577.

Stanaland is the fifth Huntingdon golfer to earn a win since the start of the fall season, joining Connelly, junior Stephen Shephard, sophomore Drew Mathers and junior Henry Gee.

Connelly's 68 tied on Sunday tied his best round of the fall and spring season and is one stroke off his best round as a Hawk.

Behind Stanaland and Connelly, Shephard tied for 10th with a 4-over 144. Shephard shot an even-par 72 in each round. Mathers finished tied for 29th with a two-round 150 and junior Wyatt Adkison tied for 36th with a two-round 151.

Playing as an individual, Gee shot a 1-over 71 in the final round and tied for 29th with a two-round 150.

 

Director of Golf Dave Schreyer on Saturday's round: "I'm so happy for Jon with the win. That gives us our fifth different individual winner this season. For the team, we had another bridesmaid finish today, but we just got beat. Emory outplayed us."

Coming Up: Huntingdon will play in the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday-Saturday. The Hawks enter the nine-team tournament as the No. 2 seed.