The No. 15 Kenyon men’s golf team headed northeast to Chardon, Ohio, for the Dan Caschera Classic on Sunday and Monday. Competing for the final time before the NCAC Championship in a crowded field of conference foes, the Owls won their first tournament of the season, with Jon Oakes ’27 finishing as the individual champion.
Oakes led the way for Kenyon on Sunday, carding a 72. Just behind him, Adrian Jordan ’28 and Oliver McGovern ’28 shot 2-over. Jaiden Koonar ’27 ended the first day of competition with a score of 76, while Rafael Frias IV ’27 and Armand Ouellette ’25 rounded things out with first-round scores of 79. The Owls ended the day sitting in third place, five strokes back of the host John Carroll University Blue Streaks in first place.
Looking to close out the regular season on a high note, every Kenyon golfer improved on the second day of competition. Oakes turned in a 70, ending the tournament with a 2-under score of 142. He was the only golfer to end competition under par, earning him his first collegiate tournament win and second NCAC Athlete of the Week honors. “I hit it great off the tee all week, which led to more scoring opportunities,” Oakes wrote in an email to the Collegian. “It means a lot because it’s my first collegiate win, which is a milestone I’ve been trying to achieve these past two years. I’m hoping to build off this one.”
Just as on Sunday, Jordan and McGovern ended Monday tied. They both shot 1-over in the second round to earn a share of seventh place. Just one stroke behind them, Koonar carded a 72 to take a piece of 10th place. Ouellette, who was golfing unattached and whose score did not count in the team total, shot a 3-over in the second round and ended in 27th place. Frias’ second-round score of 77 earned him a share of 33rd place in a field of 78 golfers. The Owls ended the tournament with a 584, seven strokes ahead of the runner-up John Carroll.
Oakes was proud of how the team was able to respond after sitting in third place on Sunday: “Getting the first win of the season is always a great feeling, and to do it in comeback fashion shows us a lot of good things.” For Jordan, the team’s first win of the season came at the perfect moment. “Throughout the season, we emphasized peaking at the right time, and to win this event meant we are on track to do exactly that,” he wrote in an email to the Collegian.
Kenyon will return to the links for the NCAC Championship, held in Columbus, Indiana, from Friday to Sunday. The Owls will look to defend their NCAC title and earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. After facing off against conference foes in Chardon, Jordan is confident that Kenyon is in a strong position to repeat as champions. “Seeing the scores that our conference opponents posted this weekend gives us the confidence that we have what it takes to repeat,” he said. Oakes believes that the team’s strong performance in the regular season has set the Owls up well: “We just need to keep the momentum going. We’ve had lots of success this year so far against conference opponents, so we do not need to do anything differently. If we stick to our plan and execute, we’ll have a good chance to win.”