EMCC concludes golf season with fourth-place finish at NJCAA Gulf District Championship

PHILADELPHIA – The East Mississippi Community College men's golf season came to a close during this week's fourth-place finish at the NJCAA Gulf District Championship played on the Oaks course at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club.

Making their first district/region appearance on the links since hosting the 2018 tournament at Lion Hills in Columbus, the Lions entered Wednesday's third and final round just one shot out of third place after previously sitting in third following their opening-round 298. The Lions' bid at earning the program's first-ever team appearance in NJCAA tournament play fell by the wayside, however, when they totaled a second straight 304 on the final day to finish 19 strokes behind third-place and tournament host East Central.

Nationally eighth-ranked ECCC, Meridian and top-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast all advanced to next month's (May 21-24) NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship to be played at Twin Hills Golf & Country Club in Joplin, Missouri. The MGCCC Bulldogs (277-278-263—818) claimed their 15^th team win in the last 16 district/region golf tournaments with a dominant 65-shot victory over runner-up Meridian (301-300-282—883). East Central finished four shots behind MCC with a three-day total of 887 (295-303-289).

With the top six teams from the MACCC Championship having advanced to this week's NJCAA Gulf District Championship, East Mississippi (298-304-304—906) was followed by Jones College (299-309-299—907) and Northeast Mississippi (313-316-299—928) in district tournament play.

Individually for EMCC, sophomore Carter Martin (Canton, MS/Canton Academy) led the way for the Lions in tying for 12^th place by sandwiching a 1-under-par 71 between rounds of 74 and 75 for a three-day score of 220.

Freshman Lorenzo Ligabue, from Italy, improved his score each day to tie for 17^th place at 223. The Lions' second-team All-MACCC performer closed out the tournament with a 1-over-par 73 on Wednesday following rounds of 76 and 74 earlier in the week.

Fellow EMCC freshman Trace Carpenter (Kosciusko, MS/Winona Christian School) also posted a trio of sub-80 rounds to place 24^th with a composite score of 231 (74-78-79).

Sophomore Daniel Martin (Parrish, AL/Oakman HS) saved his best golf for the final day of the tournament, finishing with a 77 on Wednesday after rounds of 80 and 82 to finish at 239. 

Rounding out head coach Ashton Maddaloni's EMCC quintet was freshman Haavard Haakensen, a native of Norway, who began the week with an opening-round, 2-over-par 74 on the way to a 32^nd-place finish with a 242 total (74-81-87).