With high expectations heading into the conference championships this past week, the Cardinals fell short of expectations, finishing seventh out of eight teams in the CCIW tourney.
Senior Tom Stacey led the way for North Central with a four day score of 305, good enough for 18th overall. Finishing two strokes behind Stacey was freshman Lincoln Slagel in 20th place, followed by sophomore Eric Gruber, who finished 35th overall with a combined score of 319.
[soundcloud params=”auto_play=true&show_comments=true&color=0ac4ff”]https://soundcloud.com/ncclinked/jared-shlensky-with-eric-gruber[/soundcloud]Rounding out the top five for NCC were seniors Nick Muellner and Nick Stavropoulos, who finished 37th and 39th overall.
“This weekend was kind of a disappointment,” said Stavropoulos. “We had high hopes and thought we could compete for that top spot but it just didn’t work out that way.”
But for Stavropoulos, a four-year member and captain this year for the men’s golf team, has nothing but positive memories regarding his collegiate career.
“It’s been great,” said Stavropoulos. “Sure we’ve had our struggles but I will never forget this experience. We had great team chemistry all four years and I’m going to miss it.”
[soundcloud params=”auto_play=true&show_comments=true&color=0ac4ff”]https://soundcloud.com/ncclinked/jared-shlensky-with-nick-stavopoulos[/soundcloud]One individual who has made Stavropoulos’s collegiate athletic career as fun as possible along with both current and former members of the team is head coach, Lloyd Krumlauf.
“I can’t thank Lloyd enough for everything he’s done for me on and off the course,” said Stavropoulos. “He’s a great guy and I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else.”
Despite graduating four seniors this spring, Gruber and the returning Cardinals are looking forward to next season, as six underclassmen from this year’s team return for the upcoming fall season.
“Myself and Lincoln both played at conference this year as underclassmen, so that was big,” said Gruber. “It’ll be good for us next year and I think we’ll have a very good team next year.”
The Cardinals finished in the top 10 in seven of its eight tournaments this season, including a third place finish at the Naperville Collegiate Invite.
North Central closes out its spring season on Tuesday morning in the Carthage College Spring Invitational in Kenosha, Wis. Play is scheduled to get underway at 9 a.m.
