The Penn men's golf team tied for ninth place at the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md., this past weekend, making it the Quakers' second top 10 finish of the spring.
The tournament included 23 teams and 114 golfers.
Despite Sunday's adverse weather conditions, which had the men playing in rain and wind, the Quakers scored a two-day total of 623 (306, 317).
Leading the men's team individually were freshmen Patrick Cooper and Sean Barrett and junior Larry Nickell.
Cooper tied for ninth place along with six other golfers with a score of 151 (75, 76). It was his first top 10 finish of the season.
"I was really happy with how I hit the ball. I struggled in the first two tournaments, so I didn't have a lot of game confidence coming into this week," Cooper said. "But I was able to hit the ball solidly and play well. I'm happy to have played a good tournament."
Tied for 39th with seven other golfers including Nickell, Barrett was the only other Penn player to shoot two sub-80 rounds, finishing with a score of 157 (78, 79).
"As a team, our goal was to do whatever we needed to do well at this tournament and prepare for the Ivy League Championship," Nickell said. The Dallas native had a two-day score of 153 (74, 83). "This was a good opportunity to get out and play, especially in tough conditions, and I was really excited about the way the rest of the guys played."
The Navy Invitational was the Quakers' second-highest finish of the spring season after placing fifth at the St. John's Treasure Coast tournament three weeks ago.
"The spring season's been up and down for us as a team," Cooper said. "We don't always score as well as we play, which can be pretty frustrating."
"Basically, we're still getting a feel for it," Nickell said. "We're looking forward to the Ivy League Championship and using this past tournament as a learning experience."
The team has a very specific goal at Ivies.
"We lost to Columbia by a stroke and Princeton by eight strokes at this tournament," Cooper said. "Although we're obviously going to the championship with the intention of winning, we would consider ourselves successful if we beat Princeton.
"We are going see where we stand against the other Ivies, and hopefully we can continue our success."
The Ivy League Championships will take place April 17-18 in Jackson, N.J.
