Trailing by five strokes entering Saturday's third and final round, Lake Forest posted the second-lowest score in program history to defend their title at the 2019 Midwest Conference Championship Tournament.
Forester senior Ricky Schmidt and junior Jacob Krugman were four shots better than anyone else in the 36-player field on Saturday with matching scores of even-par 72. Krugman birdied three holes, including two of the final three, and Schmidt's round included two birdies, two bogeys, and 14 pars. Schmidt finished the tournament as the individual runner-up with a program record 54-hole score of 222 while Krugman was tied-for-third overall, just one shot behind Schmidt and three ahead of the best score in school history before Saturday.
The top 10 players at the conference tournament are named All-MWC and Forester senior Parker Hill joined Schmidt and Krugman in that category with a 76 on Saturday and a three-day score of 234, which now ranks seventh in team annals. He had three birdies in his final round, including back-to-back threes on holes 11 and 12.
Senior Cam McGuire finished 14 overall after posting a 78 for the second straight round. He birdied two of the four par-3s on the 6,615-yard course at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Illinois, and finished the weekend with a score of 240, one shot better than Lake Forest junior Austin Aksoy and three ahead of senior Elijah Collins. Aksoy had a 79 on Saturday and Collins an 81.
The Foresters needed just 298 strokes to complete Saturday's round, the program's second-lowest total and the best round by any team in the history of the MWC Tournament. Their three-round score of 918 matched the school and league record they set while winning the conference title in 2018 and was six better than runner-up St. Norbert College. Knox College was third at 932, followed by Illinois College (954), Monmouth College (1,027), and Grinnell College (1,038).
Schmidt and his head coach, Brian Bruha, were named MWC Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, after the tournament.
It was the final career event for Schmidt, Hill, McGuire, and Collins, who are joined by Jordan Mandel in the team's senior class.
