BELLE VERNON, Pa. – In his collegiate debut, freshman Cesar Castellano (Madrid, Spain/San Patricio El Soto) set the Felician University men's golf single-round record by shooting 68 during the opening round of the Vulcan Invitational, hosted by California University of Pennsylvania on Sunday and Monday at Cedarbrook Golf Course. Castellano followed with a 73 to set the program record for a 36-hole event as well.
The event was originally scheduled for 54 holes, including 36 on Sunday, but heavy rain interrupted the weekend. The 18 teams in attendance were able to start Round 2 on Sunday and complete it on Monday morning, but no further play was possible.
Felician team records for 18 and 36 holes also fell. A team enters five players, and the lowest score each round is dropped. The sum of the other four scores constitutes the team score. In Round 1, graduate student Gonzalo Maldonado Felices (Almeria, Spain/Stella Maris) carded a 74, and sophomore Kristian O'Grady (Thiells, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) and freshman Pablo Hidalgo (Marbella, Spain/IES Guadalpin) each signed for 76. The 294 bested by four strokes the previous record set three years ago.
In Round 2, Maldonado Felices led the Golden Falcons with 72. Backing Castellano's 73 were a 76 from Hidalgo and O'Grady's 77. Felician totaled 298 for a tournament score of 592.
Scores trended low throughout the event, and the Golden Falcons finished in only 15th place of 18 schools. Castellano (141) tied for 25th out of 120 individuals, and Maldonado Felices was the only other Felician player in the top half of the field, tying for 55th place.
Castellano's 68 consisted of three birdies and 15 pars on the par-71, 6,305-yard layout. Maldonado Felices (twice) and Joe Peters shared the previous record of 70. Jake Storako (73-71—144) had held the individual 36-hole record for nearly three years.
Junior Dylan Molloy (Spotswood, N.J./Spotswood) also competed for the Golden Falcons, shooting 93-82—175.
Gannon University won the tournament with scores of 271-274—545, five strokes ahead of runner-up Davis & Elkins College. Gannon's Abe Holmes and Ryan Ferry shared medalist honors, each with 132 (-10).
Felician is next in action at the Franklin Pierce University Fall Invitational on Sept. 18-19 in Townsend, Mass.
