SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. //  Team captain Benjamin Valdez (Jr / Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and Jack Tarzy (So / Medford, N.J.) each had top-20 finishes to lead the Navy men's golf team to an eighth-place finish at the Veterans Intercollegiate held Monday and Tuesday at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s throughout Tuesday's final round, as the Mids closed out the 36-hole tournament with a 39-over par 615 (302-313).

Valdez paced the Mids with an 11-place finish, just a stroke outside of the top 10. He opened with a 5-over par 77 on Monday, but rallied in the final round to shoot a 1-over par 73 and earn his first-career top-20 finish (150, +6). Tarzy, meanwhile, was sensational in the opening round, turning in a 1-under par 71 to finish the day inside the top 10. The second-year player, however, struggled over the final 18 holes, posting a 10-over par 82 to finish 17th with a 9-over par 153. Tarzy, who finished among the top 25 in each of the last three tournaments this fall, has placed 25th or better in 9 of the 10 tournaments in which he's played in his career and among the top 20 in 4 of the 10.

Rounding out play for the Mids were Luke Lombardo (Fr / Severna Park, Md.) and Danny Auffant (Fr / Bellevue, Wash.) who tied for 33rd with a 13-over par 157 (both shot 77 and 80), while Jack Teuschl (Fr / Oakton, Va.), who made his first-career tournament appearance last week, placed 50th with a 19-over par 163 (83-80).

Tournament Notes
• LIU (283-299=582) captured the team title by 17 strokes over second place Iona (289-310=599). The Sharks opened the tournament with a 5-under par 283 and a 6-stroke advantage over Iona heading into the final round, before closing it out on Tuesday.
• While 2 LIU players - Marcelo Mexsen and Lewis Wright - finished under par (143, -1) for the tournament, Bucknell's Alex Creamean put together back-to-back rounds of 2-under par 70 to claim individual medalist honors with his 4-under par 140. Fairfield's Colin Summers (70-73-143, -1) joined Creamean, Mexsen and Wright as the lone players to close out the two-day tournament under par.
• Navy was one of four Patriot League teams to compete in the Veterans Intercollegiate, as Bucknell, the host of the event, placed fourth (603, +27), Holy Cross was seventh (612, +36), Navy finished eighth (615, +39) and Army was 10th (626, +50).

With the fall season officially concluded, the Mids will use the next handful of months to prepare for their championship season in the spring which is slated to begin at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. on Feb. 17-18.

### Go Navy ###