MARION, N.C. -- Houghton Disc Golf finished in a tie for fourth place at the 2023 College Disc Golf National Championships last week in Marion, N.C.

There were over 700 competitors from 88 different schools in the four-day event. Houghton brought three men's teams, as well as an individual competitor in the women's division. 
 
The Houghton A-Team competed in the DI division of the National Championships. Teams needed to qualify in order to compete at this highest level of competition, and there were 60 teams in the division. The men's A-Team, comprised of Carter Sisson, Owen Fall, Tim Roth and Zach Sisson, shot a blistering -16 at the Boulder's course during round one. This was the hot round of the tournament and put Houghton in first place after day one. On day two, the competitors all played an individual round. Each team's competitors scores were then averaged into a team score. The team played incredibly well and averaged -3 on the second day to move into solo second place, behind Clemson.
 
On day three, the competition moved over to the Gorge course at North Cove and the weather was tough. It was raining during the entire third round and winds were gusting up to 25 mph. Houghton competed with Clemson on the lead card. Houghton shot a -2 to move into a T4 place, sitting behind Emporia State, Cincinnati and Missouri. On day four, the teams competed in miserable conditions again. Houghton took some early bogeys, but had a number of highlight shots to shoot another -2. Tim Roth threw in a 150 approach shot on the treacherous 18^th island green to secure a T4 finish. 
 
Houghton had two teams in the Men's DIII Division. The Men's B-team consisted of Rhyan Lorenc, Sam Roth, Caleb See and Noah Harley. The Men's C-Team consisted of Luke Yelle, Jon Zdunksi, Andre Spronk & Zach Roussie. The Men's B-Team finished in a T21 out of 42 teams. The Men's C-Team finished in 40^th place.
 
On the individual side of the competition, Houghton had an excellent showing. Owen Fall ended up finishing in a T17 out of the top 256 competitors in the country. Owen earned Second Team All-American honors. Zach Sisson put together a solid performance, finishing in a T28 after making the singles finals. Emily Andruczyk capped off an excellent senior season finishing in a T14 out of 60 competitors. She just missed the singles finals by one stroke. Rhyan Lorenc finished in a T10 place out of the 163 competitors in the Men's DIII Division. 
 
In addition, Carter Sisson went into the tournament as a top-64 rated player and was invited to the Matchplay Championship. This was a bracket style event where individuals competed in 6-hole matches to move on or be eliminated. Carter cruised through his first three matches, making it to the Elite-8. Carter lost his elite-8 match to be eliminated from the event. Overall, it was an incredible showing from Carter as the only representative from Houghton in this portion of the event.

This was Houghton's second time competing at the College Disc Golf National Championships and there was a lot to be proud of. Every person who competed this week improved tremendously from last year.
 
Owen Fall: -6 (+4 in 2022)
Tim Roth: E (+12 in 2022)
Caleb See: +2 (+14 in 2022)
Sam Roth: +2 (+16 in 2022)
Jon Zdunski: +7 (+16 in 2022)
Emily Andruczyk: +9 (+21 in 2022)
Luke Yelle: +10 (+21 in 2022)
 
Men's A-Team: -23 (+17 in 2022)
Men's B-Team: -4 (+29 in 2022)
 
Coach Guthrie Collins had this to say about the tournament: "I couldn't be more proud of these individuals. We practiced so hard this semester to be ready for this week and it paid off. The energy was palpable from the first two rounds of competition with so many highlights. Our team rose to the occasion. We put ourselves in position after the first two days to win a National Championship and came up just short. The support our players were getting from each other and the fans was amazing. I am deeply grateful for the people who came down to support our team. I couldn't have asked for a better showing in year two of our program. This team is incredibly young and you can continue expect great things from this group moving forward."
 
The Houghton Disc Golf Team finishes their season at the WNY Conference Championships at Emery Park on April 23.