On the first day of the 2011 New England Small College Athletics Conference (NESCAC) Golf Qualifier, a two-day tournament, Taggie Martin ’13 drove the Mules into contention by shooting the lowest round of the day. Hosted by Connecticut College at Lyman Orchards Golf Club, over 50 college golfers were competing to get on the leaderboard in the first round.

Martin’s score of 35 on the front nine holes and 34 on the back nine put him three strokes under par and two strokes in the lead. Nicholas Koh of Amherst College, Jack Palley of Trinity College and Matt McCarron of Williams College finished in a three-way tie for second place after day one.

The next Colby golfer, Tripp Huber ’13, finished in a tie for 20th place with a score of 77, captain Harry Smith ’12 was only one stroke back in 24th place and Tom Lampert ’12 and Pete Gabranski ’13 were part of a five-way tie for 33rd place.

At the end of the day, Colby and Hamilton College both had a combined score of 304, which tied them in sixth place overall. Williams took the lead with a total score of 290.

Light rain on Saturday left the competitors with a soggy course on Sunday morning. The less-than-favorable conditions didn’t keep Martin from securing sixth place in the individual results section, nor did it prevent Colby from a sixth place finish out of 10 teams. Huber accumulated a total score of 156 to tie for 27th place, Smith tied for 33rd place (159), Gabranski tied for 35th place (161) and Lampert tied for 37th place (162). Altogether, the Mules were 47 strokes over par and 37 strokes behind the winner, Williams (586).

Following Williams were Trinity (588), Middlebury College (594), Hamilton (600) and Amherst College (612). Tufts University and Bates College were both 10 strokes behind Colby in seventh place, Bowdoin College took ninth and Wesleyan University finished tenth.

With only two tournaments left in the season, the Mules are hoping to put another athlete into the winner’s bracket. Cheer them on at home on Oct. 8 in the highly anticipated CBB Tournament. Colby, Bates and Bowdoin begin their match at noon.