SSU 'A' Team finishes third, 'B' Team ninth in stacked Roger Merb Invitational field; Cracraft earns RMI All-Tournament honors

MCDERMOTT, Ohio -- The men's golf program at Shawnee State got strong collective team efforts from top to bottom Tuesday evening as all 12 golfers who took part in the 36-hole Roger Merb Invitational for Shawnee State either contributed as scorers for their respective teams or posted individual rounds.

Trey Cracraft, Logan Hughes and Ross Ferrell all finished inside the top-20 overall, while Cracraft earned Roger Merb Invitational All-Tournament Honors in the one-day event to help lead the Shawnee State 'A' squad to a tie for third place overall while the Shawnee State 'B' squad placed ninth in the RMI, which was held Monday at Elks Country Club in McDermott.

The 'A' team, which was comprised of Cracraft, Hughes, Ferrell, Tanner Stevenson and Max Kearns, shot a two-round 605 -- matching West Virginia Tech's 'A' squad for third place on the team leaderboard.

Shawnee State's performance was part of an extremely competitive tournament where the top seven units were separated by just 15 strokes -- with Pikeville's 'A' squad winning the Roger Merb Invitational with its two-round 600 and Pikeville's 'B' squad following with a 602.

West Virginia Tech's 'B' squad finished four strokes behind SSU's and West Virginia Tech's 'A' squads en route to a fifth-place 609, while Georgetown's and Mount Vernon Nazarene's top guns tied for sixth on the board by shooting 615s.

In shooting its 605 at the Roger Merb Invitational, Shawnee State shot a opening round 307 followed by a second-round 298 -- getting better as the day wore on despite temperatures that reached the upper 80s with little cloud cover until late in the tournament's going.

The 298 that the Shawnee State 'A' team put together in the second round was the Bears' third round under 300 in its last four 18-hole rounds overall -- and SSU's performance was the lowest single round of any team in the 16-unit Roger Merb Invitational field.

Cracraft stars

With a great deal of talent out of a place that has produced a heavy pipeline of talented golfers, former Mason County High School product Trey Cracraft enjoyed arguably the best performance of his young career Monday.

Firing a one-over 73 to begin Monday's action, Cracraft set the tone early by posting birdies on the first, 11th, 13th and 14th holes while notching pars on 10 additional greens to get out to a strong start.

Cracraft then went one-under on the second, fourth, eighth and ninth holes of play while only bogeying the first hole to match eventual Roger Merb Invitational Medalist, West Virginia Tech's Roberto Peiro, for the best nine-hole score with a three-under 33 on the front nine of the sophomore's second round. Cracraft ultimately finished with a four-over 148 to finish in a tie for second place overall.

Hughes keeps strong start going

Continuing his own strong play to begin the 2024-25 season, Shawnee State junior Logan Hughes made it three top-15 finishes in a row as the Flemingsburg, Ky. native kept up his own consistency.

Shooting identical 75s in the first and second rounds of the Roger Merb Invitational, Hughes notched a birdie on six holes -- the fifth, 11th and 18th holes in Round 1 as well as the first, eighth and 14th holes in Round 2 -- to again provide a steady Shawnee State presence near the top of the overall leaderboard. Hughes also fired in 20 pars en route to shooting a two-round 150 to tie for eighth place in what ultimately ended up being a field of 82 players.

Solid performances dot remainder of Shawnee State lineup

Enjoying a strong second round, Ross Ferrell posted the lowest round of any Bear on Monday evening by notching an even-par 72 to lead Shawnee State over the final 18 holes while helping the Bears finish strong. The Tipp City product's two birdies on the seventh and 11th, along with 14 pars over his final 18 holes of golf, allowed Ferrell to charge up to 16th place in the final standings.

Tanner Stevenson, a consistent scoring piece who has led the Bears over the past two tournaments, gutted out a two-round 155 and improved by three strokes over his second round of competition, shooting a 76 in the second round, while Max Kearns rounded out the 'A' Team's efforts by posting a second-round 77, a seven-stroke improvement from the opening round of golf that the sophomore produced.

Shawnee State also got a rock-solid performance from its 'B' unit, who was consistent throughout by nabbing a 320 over the first round of play and a 318 through the final 18 holes of competition en route to a ninth-place 638.

That group was led by Owen Robinson, who matched Shawnee State's second-best 18-hole round in the second round of action with his 75 -- which featured three birdies on the fourth, eighth and ninth holes and nine pars en route to a 21st place finish and a two-day 154. Kyle Salamon shot a 76 in the opening round to aid the group's efforts as well -- and posted the third-best first round score for SSU in the process of doing so.

Individually, Bodie Hillwig put together a strong first round, as the four-year senior -- one of two alongside Stevenson -- posted an opening round 79 and nabbed five birdies while playing alongside Isaac Doolin as individual players.

Doolin, Tanner Castle, Cayden Haislop and Brayden Popp, who each made their first appearances as freshmen at the Elks Country Club along with Robinson, were all consistent throughout as Haislop matched his stroke score in both rounds while Doolin and Popp played within one stroke and two strokes from their first round score to their mark in the second round. Castle, meanwhile, lowered his stroke by three from the first round to the second -- finishing off a productive 36-hole RMI Tournament for the Bears from top to bottom.

Additional

As mentioned in the preview story regarding the tournament, the Roger Merb Invitational honors the first-ever head golf coach in the history of Shawnee State's men's golf program as a four-year institution. Merb guided the program from the Spring 1989 season to the 2015-16 seasons, and ultimately produced eight NAIA National Qualifiers over his men's golf coaching career.

Additionally, Merb, who won 1997 Mid-Ohio Conference Coach of the Year honors, helped guide the Bears to their first conference championship as a men's golf program that season -- with Rice, Shawnee State Hall of Famers Tony Brown and Bryan Sturgell, and Scott Fleisher and Ryan Groff all contributing as scoring hands in what ultimately ended up being an 11th-place finish nationally for SSU in the 1997 NAIA National Championship Tournament. Brown, who led the Bears with a 13th place finish, was named as an NAIA All-American that year for his efforts.

Along with Shawnee State's run during the 1997 season, the Bears finished as a conference or district runner-up six additional times (1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004) in what ended up being a legendary career for one of Shawnee State's very best to grace the athletic department.

The men's golf program at Shawnee State concludes the fall portion of its schedule at the two-day River States Conference Fall Preview, which will be held at The Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, W. Va.