Louisville, Kentucky -- Indian Hills put together back-to-back rounds of nine-under par 279 to pick up its second team title in as many meets to begin the spring season -- defeating Indiana Tech by 16 strokes to claim the Heritage Hills Collegiate. The Warriors opened up a nine-shot advantage after Saturday's 18 holes and added to the margin on Sunday to finish with a 558 total, 18 strokes under par.
George Clarke earned medalist honors for the first time in his college career and did it in impressive fashion. Clarke began the tourney with a five-under par 67 and followed with a three-under 69 for a 136 total, defeating his teammate, Ricky Sanders, and Midland University's Joe Vest by two shots.
Clarke had lots of familiar names right behind him on the leaderboard -- IHCC had four players in the top five, five in the top 10, and six among the top 14 scores.
Sanders, the medalist in Indian Hills' season-opening win, tied for 2nd at 138 after sub-par rounds of 70 and 68.
IHCC's Maxime LeClerc and Joe Kim also shot below par in each round -- a 71 and 68 for LeClerc, and scores of 71 and 70 for Kim. LeClerc was alone in 4th and Kim tied for 5th.
Joe Hodgson, on rounds of 71 and 72, was all by himself in 10th place.
Julien Sale rounded out the IHCC golfers with a 146 total after shooting 74 and 72. He tied for 14th.
Indian Hills is back in action later this week at the Purgatory Intercollegiate in Noblesville, Ind., on Mar. 23-24.
Heritage Hills Collegiate
Team scores:
- Indian Hills 279-279=558; 2. Indiana Tech 288-286=574; 3. Marian University 294-286=580; 4. Midland University 294-287=581; 5. St. Francis 291-293=584; 6. Lawrence Tech 291-294=585; 7. Indiana U.-South Bend 310-311=621; 8. Grand Rapids CC 316-309=625; 9. Earlham 325-321=646
Indian Hills scores:
1. George Clarke 67-69=136; T2. Ricky Sanders 70-68=138; 4. Maxime LeClerc 71-68=139; T5. Joe Kim 71-70=141; 10. Joe Hodgson 71-72=143; T14. Julien Sale 74-72=146