Sam Houston State’s men’s and women’s golf team placed first at the Harold Funston Invitational hosted by SHSU at Raven’s Nest Golf Course Monday and Tuesday.
Junior transfer Zach Cabra led the men to another win following consecutive first place individual performances including a win at the Kansas State Invitational last week.
Cabra broke 70 in both rounds and tied for the low round of the tournament with a first-round 67 on the par 71 course.
Head coach Brandt Kieschnick describes Cabra as one of the top college golfers in the nation.
Cabra established himself as a clear leader among the team, especially after he regained momentum after dropping a few birdies in the middle of the first round.
“I told him that this was a good time to learn how to dig yourself out of a hole and win,” Kieschnick said. “He did that and he birdied four holes coming in. This was a great win for [Cabra].”
The Bearkats made the win almost effortlessly by pulling away from a 14-point lead over Abilene Christian University to finish the tournament 24 shots ahead.
Freshman Kline Kotz continued his impressive freshman campaign with a shared seventh place finish, giving him a top 13 finish in each of his first three tournaments.
Juniors Logan Boatner and Dennis Reiner rounded out the Bearkats’ performance with 20th and 43rd place finishes.
This is the fourth consecutive victory for the Bearkats at their host event, and the first time the team has won back-to-back tournaments since their 2008-09 season.
“I’m really proud of how a bunch of the guys played,” Cabra said. “It’s always good to play well to start the season and keep the momentum going.”
The Lady Bearkats secured a SHSU sweep with a strong performance from their young roster.
Sophomore Nicole Budnik’s fourth place effort kept the Bearkats from losing the tournament to close runner-up Lamar University and provided SHSU with their first win of the season.
Freshman Paige Nelson got back into the swing of things with a sixth place finish after hitting for 33rd at last week’s Oral Roberts University Shootout.
Closely behind Nelson to complete SHSU’s performance were freshman Brooke Fouts and junior Alisa White’s shared seventh-place finish with sophomore Abigayle Corson tied for 12th.
“We’ve seen this [win] coming from the women,” Kieschnick said. “They’ve been really close, and we told them that. They played a great round and won.”
The SHSU women will be idle for two weeks before competing at the Alabama-Birmingham Fall Beach Bash in Pensacola, Fla., Oct. 28 and 29.
The men will hit the course Oct. 21 and 22 in Las Cruces, N.M., at the New Mexico State Herb Wimberly Invitational.