The Riverhawks golf team placed second on Sunday in the two-day National Junior College Athletic Association Region 20 Division III championship tournament.

The Riverhawks had a team-combined score of 680 strokes through two days. Second-year student Carter King shot 163 over two days, which led the Riverhawks.

The Butler County Community College Pioneers finished first in the tournament with a team-combined score of 654 strokes. Troy Loughry from the Pioneers shot 147 through 36 holes. That’s an average of 73.5 strokes per 18 holes. 

“Butler is a really good team,” Riverhawks head coach Dave O’Donnell said. “We had a lot of good performances from our team. Unfortunately we … weren’t quite good enough this year. Next year is a whole new year.”

After the first day of the tournament, the Riverhawks fell 18 strokes behind the Pioneers. King shot a 79 on the first day and an 84 on the second. Second-year student Chase Kasulke shot an 86 on the first day and an 82 on the second. 

“Carter King and Chase Kasulke played excellent this weekend,” O’Donnell noted. “They both earned All-Region honors, which is a big deal.” 

First-year transfer studies student Parker Black, who averaged 79.2 strokes per 18 holes for the Riverhawks this season, didn’t participate in the two-day tournament because he withdrew from the team for academic reasons.

“Parker’s a very good player,” O’Donnell said. “We would have loved to have had him but he has to take care of himself academically first. That’s the most important thing [when] playing.” 

O’Donnell said the course was difficult because of the “very tough greens [and] some challenging holes they had. There’s a lot of places where the driver [was] not in play.”

Second-year business student Connor Hackett agreed.

“It was just a lot more difficult than some of the other courses that we’ve played [on] as far as the rough goes,” Hackett said. “You have to be a lot more accurate.”

Hackett said he felt more fatigued on the second day of the tournament.

“After you just had two days of 18 holes of golf, it can be a little bit tiresome and then kind of wear you out just a little bit,” Hackett said. “Especially when you’re walking all 18 holes and the pin placements were a little bit difficult.”

The Westmoreland County Community College Wolfpack finished last place in the tournament.