FAIRMONT, Mont. – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s and women’s golf teams continued to struggle with the greens at Fairmont Hot Springs Golf Resort on Monday in the first Frontier Conference tournament of the season. 

After 36 holes on Sunday, the Montana Tech Invitational wrapped up Monday with the LCSC men’s team finishing third, while the women’s team was second. There are five conference tournaments during the season – three this fall and two in the spring – and the combined team scores are used to determine the overall champions. 

The LCSC men’s team, which won the title a year ago, slipped to third on Monday after firing a 298 for an 886 total. That allowed Westminster to slip past the Warriors into second at 884. Rocky Mountain, which fired the low round on Monday with a 286, won the title with an 868. 

Freshmen Chris Kneen (73) and James Rooney (74) led the Warriors on Monday, while Nik Arrenbrecht had the top three-round score for LCSC at 219, followed by Kneen at 220. 

“We just didn’t play well,” LCSC coach Paul Thompson said. “I’ll keep saying it and I’m not trying to make excuses, but our players can play better than what they showed in this tournament. This golf course has really funny greens. They are really old and spongy, and if you get above them, you can’t stop the ball going down. We had one player five-putt a green today. Putting really hurt us in all three rounds.” 

The story was the same on the women’s side as Rocky Mountain rolled to the title with a 947, 43 shots ahead of the Warriors. As it was last year, the women’s title race will likely come down to these two teams, but RMC gave itself a nice cushion with the large victory. 

Cortney Shrout led LCSC on Monday with a 77 to finish with a team-best 243, one shot ahead of Alana Norris. 

Both teams will be in action for the second conference tournament, the Carroll Invitational, which will take place next Monday and Tuesday in Helena, Mont.  

MEN

Team scores – 1, Rocky Mountain 286-868, 2, Westminster 295-884, 3, Lewis-Clark State 298-886, 4, Montana Tech 295-899, 5, Miles City 294-905, 6, Montana-Western 311-942, 7, Carroll 327-959, 8, Great Falls 312-960,.

LCSC individual scores – Nik Arrenbrecht 75-219, Chris Kneen 73-220, Joey Lovell 76-225, Patrick Casabonne 78-228, James Rooney 74-230.

Other LCSC individuals – Jeff Ray 77-228, Chris Jarrett 80-235, Scott Mooney 82-237.

WOMEN

Team scores – 1, Rocky Mountain 318-947. 2, Lewis-Clark State 335-990. Rest of team scores unavailable.

LCSC individual scores – Cortney Shrout 77-243, Alana Norris 86-244, Juanita Villa 83-252, Samara Kluever 91-254, Niki Fisher 89-261.

Other LCSC individuals – Sue James 86-257, Jordan Knapp 91-268.