The Washburn golf team got back to winning in a big way last week after a first place showing at the Truman Bulldog Classic in Kirksville, Mo.

Taking an eight-stroke lead after the first round, the team never looked back, finishing the tournament with a 1-over-par 565, 22 strokes ahead of the next team.

Individually, the Ichabods dominated the top five with Matt Lazzo, Matt Ewald and Matt Salome placing first, second, and fifth with scores of 136, 136 and 145, respectively. Shooting a 5-under-par for the tournament, Lazzo took the gold after winning a one-hole playoff with Ewald. Ewald nearly tied the course record of 64 with his 6-under-par 65 in the second round.

Also competing for Washburn, Ryan Deutsch shot a 8-over-par 149, placing 16th while John Robbins, Daniel Hersch and Dustin Yeager all shot 14-over-par 155s.

“I think the tournament out at Truman State was good for us,” said coach Doug Hamilton. “I think it will be a nice confidence booster for the three Matts: Ewald, Lazzo and Salome. All three of those guys played really well. We needed a good tournament like that after we got started a little bit rough out at South Carolina.”

With the win at Kirksville, the Washburn golf team won its fifth straight MIAA points event dating back to last season.

“I think a lot of the domination comes from the level of talent that has come to Washburn. To compete for a national championship at the division two level, you have to have a team full of potential division one players that decide on division and that is what we have,” said Ewald. “We also have great team camaraderie which makes everything more fun and relaxing.”

Even though the Ichabods had a good showing, it is clear they are not at all satisfied and are hungry for more.

“We have lots of work to do and we need to continue to practice hard,” said Hersch. “We need to continue to push each other from the number one player all the way down to the ninth player. We need to get more consistent all the way through our line up so that we can expect to rely on each other when we might not be playing as well as hoped.”

Today the Ichabod golf team hopes to continue the winning in Tulsa, Okla., where it is playing in the NSU Men’s Golf Classic.

“Nobody’s ever played the new course there before; we’ve never seen it,” said Deutsch. “But we’ve won that tournament the last two years. Obviously we’re going to try to go down there and win it again as well as try to get my game back on track.”