The Saluki men’s golf team broke the school record for lowest team score at its final tournament of the fall season.

The team spent fall break in Hopkinsville, Ky. competing in the Austin Peay F&M Bank Intercollegiate. The Salukis captured fifth place of 14 teams and finished the tournament even par, which set the new Saluki record for lowest team score of 273.

After the first round, the Salukis were in ninth place as a team, but after three Salukis recored scores in the 60’s and a score of 70 from sophomore Ben Patton, the Salukis found themselves in the record books and in to fourth place.

Sophomore Drew Novara, who led the team in scoring and finished in eighth place in individuals at three stokes under par, said it was an awesome feeling to set the record as a team.

“Nobody was mad that somebody beat them or anything,” Novara said. “We were all just happy for each other giving high fives. Someone had mentioned they thought it might have been the school record.”

Behind Novara was Junior Steve Souchek who finished at even par. Souchek said grinding out a round is the most important thing in golf, and that was the main thing he learned this fall.

His second round score that contributed to the team record was a 67, and that gave him motivation heading into the off-season.

“It showed myself that I can still go low,” Souchek said. “I haven’t really had a really low score, other than a 70 at Illinois State. It just kind of boosts my confidence and shows that I can shoot really good scores.”

Coach Leroy Newton said this off-season he expects strength and conditioning to prepare for the spring season. He said right now the team members are probably sick of golf and are going to take a little break, but he expects them to come back even better in the spring.

“It’s going to be a good winter for us,” Newton said. “The kids are tired of golf, they’ve been playing all summer and fall, but they know when spring comes they’ll be ready and fresh to play.”

Novara said he plans to visit with his swing coach almost every other weekend, because that really helped lower his average last winter. He said he wants to go to the golf course as much as he can to get the spring season going where the fall season left off.

“I’ll try to get out to the course whenever I can,” Novara said. “Even if it is too cold, 20 to 30 minutes of chipping and putting will be something to keep getting better and hopefully take the fall season into the spring.”