Florida Tech Panthers Sports Roundup

By  //  March 19, 2014

Men’s Golf Wins Panther Invitational Championship

The No. 19 Florida Tech Panthers entered the final round of the Panther Invitational at The Majors Golf Club five shots behind Saint Leo as the Panthers rallied on Tuesday afternoon, and took home the team championship by two shots over the Lions.

Junior Ray Badenhorst won the individual championship for the second time in his career.

The No. 19 Panthers won the Panther Invitational by two shots. Junior Ray Badenhorst won the individual championship. (Florida Tech image)
The No. 19 Panthers won the Panther Invitational by two shots. Junior Ray Badenhorst won the individual championship. (Florida Tech image)

“Badenhorst’s 65 from yesterday was special,” said head coach Chris Saltmarsh. “He did that two years ago as a freshman, and had a chance to beat that score, but made a bogey on the final hole. His overall performance was something he wants to see, and something I want to see. As far as the team, anytime you get a win on your home golf course is good. You never want to leave feeling like you did not protect your house.”

Chris Saltmarsh
Chris Saltmarsh

The Panthers “A” group shot the best final round of the tournament, a 297. Badenhorst turned in an even-par round of 72, and was three-under-par for the tournament. Junior Justin Kalanquin was the only player in red numbers for the final round, as he shot a one-under-par 71. Seniors David Glenister and Andrew Wuethrich both shot final rounds of 77, and freshman Joe Ellis shot a final round 79.

The Panthers “B” group shot a final round of 304, and finished in third place. Junior Ryan Carter led the group with an even-par 72. Freshman Brett Krog and senior Jimmy Bologna both turned in final rounds of 77. Freshman Henrik Honkalehto shot a 78, and junior Brandon Lau rounded out the scoring with an 86.

Justin Kalanquin
Justin Kalanquin

The Panthers “A” group won the team championship with a tournament total of 894. Saint Leo finished with a total of 896, two shots behind the Panthers. Badenhorst won the individual championship by six shots over Krog. Chaz Heinz and Joey Savoie of Saint Leo joined Badenhorst, Krog, and Kalanquin on the all-tournament team.

The Panthers will return to competition on March 31 at the Buccaneer Invitational at Normandy Shores. The two-day, three-round event, is hosted by Barry University. The Buccaneer Invitational is also the final tournament for the Panthers before the Sunshine State Conference Championships on April 13-15.

Tennis Hosts Merrimack Today

Florida Tech’s multi-week homestand will come to a close this week as No. 18 women’s tennis (9-8) and No. 45 men’s tennis (5-6) host Merrimack College on Wednesday, March 19 at 3:30 p.m. and NCAA Division I program State University of New York’s Stony Brook University on Thursday, March 20 at 1 p.m.

The Panthers look to return to their winning ways after falling to nationally-ranked New York Tech Monday. (Florida Tech image)
The Panthers look to return to their winning ways after falling to nationally-ranked New York Tech Monday. (Florida Tech image)

Merrimack’s women’s team is 7-1 and rides a six-game win streak while the men are 6-4. Stony Brook is 5-4 on the men’s side and 3-3 on the women’s end.

No. 18 FIT extended its win streak to seven matches with a 7-2 win over Bluefield State College (0-4) on Monday morning before falling to No. 11 New York Institute of Technology (18-3) later in the day.

Natasa Vukovic
Natasa Vukovic

Natasa Vukovic earned her team-leading 14th win of the season in a straight set victory in singles No. 1, and Meritt Rabson registered a 6-0, 6-0 win in singles flight 4. Katie Close and Jessica Widmark picked up straight set wins in singles No. 5 and 6, respectively, as the Panthers improved to 9-7 on the season with a 7-2 win.

Beau Fieldsend
Beau Fieldsend

On the men’s side, No. 45 FIT squeaked past Bluefield State, 5-4, to extend its win streak to five before falling to No. 46 NYIT, 5-0.

FIT trailed 2-1 heading into singles play against Bluefield. The Panthers’ lone doubles win came from Beau Fieldsend and Matic Leskovar, who defeated Vishwesh Sinha and Vlad Catlan 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.

Patrick Hernandez and Leskovar then picked up wins over ranked opponents in singles. Hernandez defeated No. 21 Jacob Carey at the No. 1 slot, 7-6, 7-5. Leskovar followed with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win over No. 43 Aziz Yuldashev at No. 2 singles. Fieldsend and Wade Ball also earned wins for FIT.