There was nothing Mickey Mouse about the week that Killian McGinley had. And yet, there was. The Fairfield University senior won two golf tournaments last week – the ABARTA College Invitational at the Steel Club in Hellertown, Pa. and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship at Walt Disney World’s Palm Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
In the ABARTA, McGinley posted the low round both days, shooting 66 and 70, to win by four strokes. Despite his effort, the Stags tied for second place among teams, seven strokes behind Lehigh. Then, at Disney, he appeared to be on his way to another facile triumph after shooting rounds of 68 and 65. But a third-round 77 left him just enough cushion to claim medal honors by one stroke. The Stags again took second place, 12 strokes behind Siena.
McGinley will next be seen playing as an individual in next month's NCAA Regionals. He is the son of Paul and Allison McGinley. His father is the Irish golfing stalwart of Ryder Cup fame, while his mother played professionally on the Ladies European Tour as Allison Shapcott. Their son is a senior who resides with them in London.
Louisville’s Max Kennedy tied for seventh place in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C. The junior from Dublin finished the event five strokes under par after rounds of 69, 71 and 71. That left him four strokes off the low number. Wake Forest senior Mark Power from Kilkenny earned a share of 16th place at even-par 216 (70-73-73).
Jordan Logue took a share of eighth place in the Gulf South Conference Championship at Robert Trent Jones at Magnolia Crossings in Mobile, Ala. The Mississippi College senior from Belfast finished a couple strokes under par by shooting 70, 74 and 70. West Florida’s Elias Haavisto had a number four strokes better and won medal honors.
Arkansas State’s Jack Madden finished joint-19th in the Tunica National Intercollegiate at Tunica National in Mississippi. The senior out of Dungannon, Co. Tyrone shot 75, 70 and 74 to finish three strokes over par and 14 off the winning number struck by Missouri State’s Max Kreikemeier. Further down the leaderboard in joint-33rd stood Memphis freshman Cian O’Connor, who hails from Roscommon. He shot rounds of 76, 70 and 77.
Rounds of 73 and 76 were good enough for Jordan Hyland to claim a share of sixth place in the Spadaforo Invitational at Indiana Country Club in Indiana, Pa. The Davis & Elkins senior from Omagh, Co. Tyrone fell 11 strokes shy of Malone’s Connor Curry for medal honors.
Despite a 54-hole score of 14-over-par 227 (79-75-73), Josh Robinson contributed to Marquette’s victory in the Redbird Intercollegiate at the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel, Pa. The senior from Lisburn, Co. Antrim tied for 42nd place in the 78-man field. Toledo’s Jamie Butler, a sophomore from County Kildare, tied for 34th place at 225 (75-74-76). The Rockets took fourth place, nine strokes behind Marquette. Cole Ekert of Richmond and Nate Adams of North Dakota State shared medal honors at 212, the only golfers to break par.
WOMEN’S GOLF
It took the world’s top-ranked amateur to deny Beth Coulter in the Pacific-12 Championship tournament at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix. Stanford’s Rose Zhang shot the low round each of the first two days (67 and 68) and then cruised home with 69 to put seven strokes between her and Coulter of Arizona State. The latter, a freshman from Ardkeen, Waterford, fired rounds of 73, 70 and 68 to earn runner-up honors at 5-under-par. UCLA’s Annabel Wilson, a senior from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, checked in joint-39th at 11-over-par 227 (75-79-73).
Anna Dawson of Little Rock took third place in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship tournament in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The Waterford sophomore shot rounds of 77, 78 and 72 to finish 11 strokes over par in an event where only one round was played under par. She finished five strokes off the winning number shot by Ruth Tonnessen of Morehead State.
Anne Dawson. [Photo by Nelson Chenault]
MEN’S TRACK & FIELD
Auburn’s Louis O’Loughlin, a sophomore from Clondalkin, Dublin, won the 1500 meters at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va. He broke the beam in 3:49.27, 12 one-hundredths of a second in front of his nearest pursuer.
Later on the program in Charlottesville, Mississippi’s Shane Bracken took fifth place in the 1500 meters invitational. The senior from Foxford, Co. Mayo was along in 3:40.15 in a race won by teammate Anthony Camerieri in 3:38.34.
Tullamore, Co. Offaly had much to celebrate this weekend. Aaron Mangan, a Fort Hays State junior, ran second in the 1500 meters at the Midwest Classic in Emporia, Kan. His 3:50.31, a personal best, was eclipsed only by teammate Trever Medina in 3:49.55. Meanwhile, James Dunne of Adams State won the 1500 at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational in Albuquerque. The Tullamore sophomore got in at 3:56.11.
Fionn Harrington of Loyola (Ill.) finished 10th in the 1500 at the Gary Weineke Memorial in gChampaign, Ill. The Cork sophomore needed 3:52.54 in a race won by Bradley’s Jack Crull in 3:44.78.
Aaron Mangan.
WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD
Sorcha Moloney of McNeese State finished second in the 5000 meters at the Fred Duckett Twilight Meet in Houston. The junior from Abbeyleix, Co. Laois ran the distance in 17:09.34, trailing only Kennedy Fontenot, running unattached, who won with a time of 17:03.09.
West Virginia’s Jo-Lauren Keane got second place in the 800 meters at the Mountaineer Showcase in Morgantown, W.V. The sophomore from Corofin, Co. Clare finished in 2:06.82, bettered only by teammate Hayley Jackson in 2:06.40.
Roisin Treacy of Loyola (Ill.) got fourth place in the 3000 meters steeplechase at the Gary Weineke Memorial in Champaign, Ill. The sophomore from Ashford, Co. Wicklow brought it home in 11:05.56 in a race won by Illinois State’s Mattison Plummer in 10:29.51.
Augusta’s Cassie Lagan, a sophomore from Omagh, Co. Tyrone, got seventh place in the 10,000 meters at the Peach Belt Conference Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla. She ran the course in 39:31.05 in a race won by Flagler’s Megan Churchill in 37:48.03.
