Hinton Places Eighth, Graham Ties for 10th, at Whitman's Sunshine Invitational

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

PASCO, Wash. -- Sam Hinton (Jr., Seaside, OR/Seaside HS) of Willamette University finished in eight place and teammate Ben Graham (Fr., Renton, WA/Liberty HS) tied for 10th, as the Sunshine Invitational concluded on Sunday, March 11 at Sun Willows Golf Course. Weather delays prevented may golfers from completing the first round on Saturday, so only the front nine scores from the first round were included in the overall totals. Willamette placed fourth in the final team standings after 27 holes.

Mason Koch from George Fox University was the individual champion with an even-par score of 108 (34-74). Sam Stiles of Whitworth University was second at 1-over-par 109 (36-73). Four golfers tied for third at 110. They were Lucas Balala of Linfield College (38-72), Elijah Pittser from Whitworth (36-74), Ales Plusquellec from George Fox (36-74) and Mac Turner from University of Puget Sound (37-73).

Logan Davis from Linfield placed seventh with a score of 111 (34-77). Hinton was eighth at 112 (37-75) and Isaac Grebisz of Linfield was ninth at 113 (39-74). Graham was part of a three-way tie for 10th at 114. Graham carded 38-76, while Caleb Belton of Whitworth shot 39-75 and Jackson Hval from Linfield shot 38-76. A total of 46 golfers competed in the tournament, which was hosted by Whitman College.

In additon to Hinton and Graham, the Bearcats were represented by Kenneth Sheldon (Jr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS), Trent Jones (Jr., Kenmore, WA/Shorecrest HS) and Spencer Hong (Sr., Bellevue, WA/Singapore American School). Sheldon tied for 13th with a score of 115 (39-76). Jones shot 117 (41-76) and Hong carded 121 (45-76). Willamette's five scores during the second round on Sunday were 75-76-76-76-76.

Linfield topped the team standings with a score of 448 (149-299). George Fox was second at 453 (148-305), with Whitworth in third at 454 (151-303) and Willamette in fourth at 458 (155-303). Whitman placed fifth at 477 (157-320), while Lewis & Clark College was sixth at 488 (164-324) and Puget Sound was eighth at 533 (182-351).

Willamette is scheduled to compete at the Willamette Cup on Saturday, March 17 and Sunday, March 18. The tournament will be held at Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis, Oregon.