On Saturday, April 15, the Colgate men’s golf team finished 11th at the 36-hole Yale Spring Invitational hosted in New Haven, Connecticut. Thirteen schools competed in the 36-hole event, with Yale emerging at the top spot by the day’s end. As a team, the Raiders came out 57 over par at the Yale University Golf Club. Their final stroke count was 617 on the par 560.

The top five scores count for the Colgate Raiders in the Yale Invitational. The team did not finish as well as they had hoped to, but continue to practice consistently as they move forward with the remainder of their season. With the heavy snowfall and rain that Hamilton has faced over the past few weeks, practice has been difficult, but they aim to continue to work hard as a team.

Junior Armando Olivieri III was the top Colgate finisher with a tie for 36th place. He shot 71-81 – 152 to come out at 12 over par. Junior Scott Adams was the next Colgate finisher, placing 44th at 13 over par.

First-years Alejo Soto and Quinn McGinley both tied for 52nd place, finishing 16 over the par 140. They each shot 78 both rounds. Sophomore Freddie Sexton rounded out the Colgate lineup, finishing 68th and scoring 87-91 to end 38 above par.

The host, Yale, swept the awards and won the team trophy by 20 strokes over second place finishers, Drexel and University of Pennsylvania. The Bulldogs ended the tournament just nine strokes over par. Colgate finished 40 strokes above the 13th ranked team, St. Francis Brooklyn.

After the first 18 holes, Olivieri was tied for second place after opening with a 71, which was just shy of his career-low score. Adams showed his best finish of the season in tying for 44th place. He led the Raiders with 21 pars to Olivieri’s 20.

Soto led the team with four birdies and ended up tying for tops in shooting three over on the par-three holes. He currently holds Colgate’s longest active streak with 16 consecutive rounds counting towards the team’s overall score. McGinley made his season debut by tying with Olivieri for second on the team with 20 pars and ended up third on the par-three holes at four over.

 “We didn’t do our best this past week. We had a lot of big numbers, and we could have putted better as a team. I feel like we have been progressing the past few weeks and should be ready to go for Patriot Leagues,” Soto said.

The Raiders have had a touch-and-go season with more double digit finishes than they would like to see on the scoreboard, but are working hard to move forward and prepare for upcoming tournaments.

The Raiders will host the Robert Trent Jones Individual Shootout this upcoming weekend on both Saturday and Sunday at the Seven Oaks Golf Club before going on to compete in the Patriot League Championship from April 29-30.