By Gary Petit

WEST LAFAYETTE — Senior Chase Cummings fired a career-low 71 to finish second and lead the Ohio Northern men’s golf team to a school record 294 in the final round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Spring Invitational Sunday at the Rivergreens Golf Course.

The Polar Bears finished fourth with a 54-hole total of 904 (307-303-294). Otterbein won the event with an 886, followed by John Carroll (896) and Mount Union (898).

The 294 is eight shots better then the previous school record of 302 which was set in 2003 at the Mount Union Inv. and against Bluffton in 1981.

Cummings finished tied for second with rounds of 74-75-71—220. He also shot a 71 in the first round of the Muskingum Inv. on Mar. 28. Cummings has averaged 74.6 strokes over his last six rounds.

Junior Ben Kretz also had a very good weekend, carding rounds of 74-75-73—222 to finish tied for seventh. Kretz is also hitting his stride at the right time, averaging 75 strokes per round over his last seven rounds.

Kretz and Cummings each carded 74-75—149 over their first 36-holes, which is tied for the second lowest 36-hole total in school history.

Senior Wes Immler tied his season low with a 75 in the final round to finish 20th. Immler carded a pair of 76s in the first two rounds.

Freshman Tom Repicky rebounded from a tough opening round to card his first two, sub-80 rounds of the spring with a 77 in round two and a 75 in round three. He finished 37th with a 237 total.

Junior Andrew Rahrig rounded out the Polar Bear scorers with an 83-77-82—242 to finish 44th.

Baldwin-Wallace senior Matt Lewis took medalist honors with rounds of 73-73-72—218.

The Polar Bears return home for the final two tournaments of the season. On April 19-20, the Bears will host the ONU Invitational at the Colonial Golfers Club. Northern with then host the OAC Championships at Colonial on April 24-25.

Team Standings
1. Otterbein 298-295-293—886, 2. John Carroll 304-301-291—896, 3. Mount Union 304-295-299—898, 4. Ohio Northern 307-303-294—904, 5. Baldwin-Wallace 312-302-300—914, 6. Muskingum 303-307-308—918, 7. Heidelberg 325-300-308—933, 8. Capital 321-308-306—935, 9. Wilmington 329-307-314—950.

Top 5 Individuals
1. Matt Lewis (BW) 73-73-72—218, t2. Chase Cummings (ONU) 74-75-71—220, t2. Mike Ruffing (Ott) 74-73-73—220, t4. A.J. Spaulding (JCU) 74-68-78—221, t4. Ty Lucas (Ott) 71-74-76—221, t4. Adam Green (Ott) 75-74-72—221.

ONU Individual Finishes
t2. Chase Cummings 74-75-71—220, t7. Ben Kretz 74-75-73—222, 20. Wes Immler 76-76-75—227, 37. Tom Repicky 85-77-75—237, 44. Andrew Rahrig 83-77-82—242.