Tombs, Slade named to All-New England Team as Bulldogs win DI and overall titles at NEIGA Championship

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Led by second-place individual finishes from juniors McKinley Slade (Saunderstown, R.I.) and Ryan Tombs (Bedford, N.H.), the Bryant University golf team earned its first team victory of the fall season, winning the Division I and overall titles at the 81st annual New England Intercollegiate Golf Championship.

Four Bulldogs earned top-10 individual finishes, with seniors Joe Walp (Portland, Maine) and Kyle Buschmann (East Haddam, Conn.) knotting for seventh while carding identical two-round scores of 155 (79-76). Slade and Tombs, who were both named to the Division I All-New England Team for their efforts, finished the two-day event with 149s. Slade recorded the best round of the tournament with a 71 on the second lap, jumping from seventh into second, while Tombs entered Monday play tied for first (74) before falling to second with a day-two 75.

Rookie Jake Ratti (Hanover, Mass.) saw his first collegiate action in the competition, finishing tied for 24th with a two-lap 165. Ratti skipped five places with a second-round 79 Monday.

Bryant's two-day team total of 608 took the Division I and overall championships, ahead of Division II winner Southern New Hampshire (609) and DIII victor Rhode Island College (618). In the DI competition, the Bulldogs trumped Central Connecticut State (616), Fairfield (626), UMass Lowell (634), Holy Cross (637) and Providence College (655).

Individual DI medalist honors went to Fairfield's Kevin Duncan, who posted a two-day total of 146. Bentley's Malcolm Oliver was the overall medalist after a two-round 142.