Waynesburg Athletics The Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets men’s golf team finished up their fall campaign this week at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Fall Championships, where they placed sixth out of nine teams with a four-man score of 672.
“We went up there with two freshmen, two sophomores and a senior who is his first year playing competitively so all-in-all I am proud with how the guys played with some of them being their first ever collegiate tournament,” said Head Coach Mike Cipoletti.
The Jackets were led by sophomore Matthew Karpeal, who finished in second place with a score of 76 on Monday and a three-under 69, which ended his two days with a total of 145, finishing just one shot from tying the winner of the tournament, Allegheny College junior Carter Hassenplug.
“This was by far my best collegiate event so far and was happy with how I played. I had a few missed opportunities and a few mistakes but I definitely improved upon them going into the second day. Now I have the spring season to look forward to and only must make up one shot for the top spot,” Karpeal said.
The Jackets also had sophomore Hudson Pincavitch who carded a 169 which tied him for 29th place. Senior Tyler Townsend, in his first PAC Championships, tied for 39th with a score of 180. The Jackets rounded out with freshmen Nathan Barnhart and Michael Clark both tying for 40th with a score of 185.
“I really felt like I could have played better, but overall I was able to minimize the damage before things got too bad. Right now, I am just excited to get to the Spring season and execute better,” Townsend said.
As mentioned, the Jackets ended up finishing sixth out of nine teams with a score of 672, with the teams that finished ahead of them were Washington & Jefferson College coming in first with a score of 606, Allegheny College coming in second with a score of 607, Grove City College coming in third with a score of 624 and Westminster College and Saint Vincent College coming in at fourth and fifth with respective scores of 627 and 654 respectively.
The future looks bright for the Jackets as they head into the off-season with having a young core of sophomores such as Karpeal and Pincavitch with the mixture of of freshmen in Clark and Barnhart, and a senior who is just getting his feet wet at the collegiate level.
“We’re 18 strokes behind the team in front of us, in football terms that’s like making a 35-point comeback and between five guys everybody needs to be 3-5 strokes better to get there. I know that’s a lot to ask especially from Karp but that’s what we have to do if we want to be contenders for the PAC title in the spring,” Cipoletti said.
The Spring championships will be held on April 19 and 20, 2024, in Boardman, Ohio.