Sept. 12, 2004

HAMILTON, N.Y. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette junior Mike Aarts fired a final round 71 to claim medalist honors at the Colgate Invitational, held at the Seven Oaks Country Club in Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday and Sunday.

Aarts (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) turned in Sunday's low round to post a two-day score of 145, edging Colgate's Richard Hayes by one stroke. Hayes was the low man on Saturday with a 3-under 69, but shot a 77 on Sunday which allowed Aarts to come from five shots off the pace and win the invitational.

Senior Jeremiah O'Neill (Newburyport, Mass./Philips Academy Andover) was steady with a 76-73-149 showing to tie for eighth place in the 95-player field.

Lafayette's team finished 11th in the 19 team field, with the top five scores from each squad figuring in the outcome. The Leopards' aggregate score was 625.

The other Leopards competing were freshman Brandon Mitchel (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Earl L. Vandermeulen) with an 84-81-165, junior Tom Palmer (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) with an 85-82-167, and senior Garett Copp (Poland, Maine/Poland Regional) with an 84-84-168.

Bucknell won the overall team championship with a 597.