ROCKFORD, Ill. — Lawrence University freshman John Pechan is tied for seventh place after the opening round of the Midwest Conference Championships at Aldeen Golf Club.
Pechan carded an 82 on Thursday at the difficult par-72 layout. Carroll University’s Blaine Lynch has the lead with a 76.
Lawrence shot a team score of 368 and is in ninth place. Carroll leads with a score of 318.
The second round is scheduled for Friday, and the tournament wraps up with Saturday’s final round.
A late April snowstorm has forced multiple changes to the Lawrence University spring sports schedule this week.
The Friday, April 22, softball doubleheader with UW-Whitewater has been canceled. The Lawrence Spring Invitational golf tournament scheduled for Saturday, April 23, has been postponed. Lawrence’s baseball doubleheader with St. Norbert College, which was scheduled for Thursday, April 21, has been moved to Monday, April 25.
SUSSEX, Wis. — The Lawrence University golf team took home a seventh-place finish Sunday at the Carroll University Invitational.
John Pechan paced the Vikings with an 85 at Ironwood Golf Course to finish tied for 20th. Jon Mays and Zach Joseph both shot 88 to tie for 26th. Nathan Fearing shot 93 to finish 33rd.
Carthage College won the title with a team score of 308, and Lawrence shot 354. Carroll’s Sam Luedtke shot 73 to win the individual title.
The average golfer would look at scores of 69 and 72 on the weekend and drop to his knees to praise the golf gods, but John Pechan is not your average player.
The Lawrence University freshman has quickly established himself as one of the Midwest Conference’s best golfers and really wasn’t pleased with his third-place finish at Ripon College Invitational on the Links Course at Lawsonia last weekend.
“I want to say I (played well) but I didn’t,” Pechan said. “I’m still not at the level I feel like I should be, but I’m progressing.”
If you think Pechan is being hard on himself, you’re right, but that’s only because he has some lofty aspirations for the remainder of the season.
“Winning the Midwest Conference is my biggest goal for the spring,” said Pechan, a native of the Seattle area. “That way I can get to nationals and take it from there.”
Pechan would like to join recent Lawrence players Jeff Henderson (2002) and All-American and Appleton native Joe Loehnis (2003) as individual conference champions.
Pechan also wants a trip to the NCAA Division III Championships, which has never happened for a Lawrence player. The last Lawrence golfers to play in the NCAA Championships were local legend Don Strutz, Carl Laumann and Dick Flicker, but that was back in 1949, well before the advent of Division III.
“John is such a great competitor,” Lawrence coach Kalle Larsson said. “You would want every Lawrence athlete to have that sort of competitive nature. His play on the course is a direct result of his work ethic and desire to be the best.”
Pechan’s achievements thus far this year are impressive. He won two of three events he played during the fall season, posting victories at the Ripon Fall Invitational at Mascoutin Golf Club and the Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational at Washington County Golf Course.
Pechan carded a Lawrence record score of 64 on the second day of the Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational, and it is believed that is the lowest score posted by a Division III player this season.
A good spring season, possibly coupled with a win at the MWC Championships, could mean a trip to the NCAAs. Before that happens, Pechan knows there is work to be done. He admits his strong suits are his accuracy and length off the tee, but he continues to work hard on his putting.
“I’m putting a lot of five-foot to 10-foot putts and being positive over the ball. If you don’t have confidence, you are not going to make the putt,” Pechan said. “That’s kind of what happened this weekend. Those are the times I do win tournaments, when my putting is on and I’m stroking it from that range.”
Friends of Jaclyn Day
The Lawrence softball team will take part in a Friends of Jaclyn Day when they play at the University of Chicago on Saturday.
The Vikings have “adopted” Emma Broeniman, a grade-schooler from Appleton who has a NF-1, a genetic disorder that causes brain tumors. Friends of Jaclyn is the organization that facilitated the relationship between Emma and the Vikings.
The University of Chicago also has adopted a child through Friends of Jaclyn, and the teams will raise some funds for the organization on Saturday. The teams played in 2010 in Appleton and had a Friends of Jaclyn Day at Whiting Field.
Taking on the big boys
The Lawrence baseball team faces its stiffest challenge of the season when it travels to Division I Butler University this weekend.
The Vikings are scheduled to play three games this weekend at Butler. It is the first meeting between the schools, and the first time Lawrence has played a NCAA Division I opponent since sweeping a doubleheader from Wisconsin in 1981.
Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.
GREEN LAKE, Wis. — Lawrence University golf standout John Pechan turned in two superb rounds this weekend and took third place at the Ripon College Invitational at the Golf Courses of Lawsonia.
Pechan, a freshman, followed up Saturday’s 3-under par 69 with an even-par 72 on Sunday for a 36-hole total of 141. Carthage College’s Donnie Langland fired a 65 on Sunday to finish first with a score of 136.
Lawrence finished 10th among the 16 teams with a score of 662. Carthage won the title at 558.
Jon Mays finished tied for 54th at 169, Nathan Fearing was tied for 60th at 174 and Zach Joseph was 66th at 178.
GREEN LAKE, Wis. — Lawrence University golf standout John Pechan is tied for the lead after Saturday’s opening round of the Ripon College Invitational at the Golf Courses of Lawsonia.
Pechan fired a 3-under par 69 on the Woodlands Course and is tied for the lead with Robert O’Neill of Carthage College. Pechan fired a 34 on the front nine and carded a 35 on the back.
The 36-hole tournament wraps up on Sunday.
Zach Joseph shot 87 for Lawrence, Jon Mays carded an 88 and Nathan Fearing shot 90.
HARTFORD, Wis. – It was a tale of two nines for Lawrence University golfer John Pechan on Monday, and he finished with a storybook ending.
Pechan (Bothell, Wash./Bothell) fired a 64 to tie the course record and set the school record on the par-72 layout at Washington County Golf Course. Pechan played the back nine first and made the turn in even-par 36 but then carded an 8-under 28 on the front nine.
Pechan, who shot 77 on Sunday, won the tournament by six shots with a 36-hole score of 141.
“I wasn’t putting well on the back nine,” said Pechan, a freshman who won the Ripon Invitational in last start. “Once I got to the front nine I missed a five-foot putt for birdie on the first hole and then I didn’t make any mistakes.”
After a birdie at No. 2, Pechan hit a 4-iron to eight feet at the 535-yard par-5 third hole. He drained that putt for an eagle and then made a 30-footer for birdie on the fourth hole. Pechan then birdied the par-4 fifth hole before making a par at No. 6.
Pechan chipped in for birdie on the par-5 seventh hole. He then hit a wedge to less than a foot for a tap-in birdie on the par-4 eighth. Pechan finished his final nine with a chip-in birdie at the 450-yard par-4 ninth.
Pechan said breaking 30 for nine holes was definitely on his mind as the round progressed.
“When I was five under through five holes I started thinking about it,” Pechan said. “I’ve always wanted to get a 29 and that was definitely in the back of my mind.”
Pechan’s 64 ties the course record of former UW-Parkside standout Andy Hanson, who shot his score at a qualifier for the 2009 United States Amateur Public Links Championship. Officials at Washington County said Pechan’s 28 set a record for a nine-hole score at the course.
Pechan broke the Lawrence record of 67, which was set by All-American and Appleton native Joe Loehnis at the Wartburg College Invitational on April 8, 2006. Pechan’s previous low was 66, which he shot at his home course, Harbour Pointe Golf Club in Mukilteo, Wash.
Lawrence carded team scores of 336 and 316 to finish in 12th place with a score of 652. Aurora University won the team title.
BERLIN, Wis. – Lawrence University freshman John Pechan won the title at the Ripon College Invitational on Sunday at Mascoutin Golf Club.
Pechan, who earned his first career victory, carded scores of 79 on Saturday and 75 on Sunday on the par-72 layout. His score of 154 was three shots better than St. Norbert College’s Jacob Hebbard, who finished second at 157.
Senior Jon Mays finished fifth for Lawrence, which took second in the team standings.
The Lawrence University golf team grabbed third place at the Lawrence Fall Classic on Friday at Eagle Creek Golf Club.
The Vikings fired a team score of 347 and were led by freshman John Pechan, who carded an 82 to tie for seventh place. Senior Jon Mays shot 83 and tied for ninth.
Lawrence University Hall of Famer Don Strutz was presented with the Bob Wurdinger Athletic Service Award earlier this week.
Strutz, from the Class of 1949, was given the award by Wurdinger at the Viking Bench Golf Outing at Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Club in Wrightstown, Wis. The award, established in the 2006-07 academic year, is presented each year to the person or persons who have shown great support to Lawrence athletics.
Strutz was a standout athlete at Lawrence in the years following his service as a B-24 Liberator pilot during World War II. A Midwest Conference golf champion, Strutz also starred in football and basketball for the Vikings. In the years following his graduation, he was an assistant football coach under Bernie Heselton and coached basketball with Johnny Sines. Strutz was inducted into the Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
An advocate for Lawrence athletics his entire adult life, Strutz has been a member of the coaching staff for more than a decade. The Appleton native has served as the assistant golf coach for the Vikings and helped guide the team to the 2005 Midwest Conference championship. It was Lawrence’s first conference golf title since Strutz was a player back in 1949. Strutz announced earlier this spring that this would be his final season coaching with the Vikings.
Strutz was vice-president of marketing at Albany International in a 51-year career with the same corporation. He is retired and lives in Appleton.
The award is named for Kaukauna, Wis., native Bob Wurdinger, who served as a Lawrence assistant football coach for decades and continues to be an advocate for Lawrence athletics. He was the first recipient of the award in 2007.
Chuck and Cinny Reff of Appleton won the award in 2008, and Ken and Carole Ebert of New London and Joe, Clyde and Jeanne Kieffer of Appleton were honored in 2009.
