The Richmond Spiders men’s golf team concluded its season on May 20 at the NCAA Regionals in Winston-Salem, finishing 11th out of 14 teams at Bermuda Run Country Club. The team set a program record by winning four tournaments during the season and secured the Atlantic 10 title for only the second time in school history.
This finish matches Richmond’s best NCAA Regionals result in the past 25 years, placing ahead of Little Rock, Presbyterian, and Navy. Junior Jack LaPiana led Richmond with a final round score of two-under-par (69), rebounding from earlier rounds to help his team. “I never really gave up after a pretty bad first round,” said LaPiana. “It felt good to shoot a low round the last round, but obviously I wish I could have done it the first couple of rounds too and help out the team a little more. I just kept grinding and stayed patient and didn’t give up on it.”
Sophomore Carson Baez also contributed with a one-under-par (70) on Wednesday, marking his twentieth under-par round this season—the most on the team—and finished as Richmond’s top individual at even par (213), tied for 33rd overall. Freshman Lucas Rizo-Patron followed closely behind at one-over-par (214), tying for 37th place in his first event since winning last month’s Atlantic 10 individual championship.
Junior Quin Polin finished tied for 58th at six-over-par (219), while senior Drew Carlin placed 66th at ten-over-par (223) in his final collegiate tournament appearance.
Head coach Adam Decker praised his team’s consistency throughout the year: “Super steady from the first tournament of the year to the last of the year,” said Decker, who was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for a record fifth time earlier this month. “There were a few ups and downs in between but they showed the ability to shoot really low scores and stay competitive even after one bad round during the week. There was a lot of fight, a lot of great internal competition, and I think being a fairly young team there’s a lot of great opportunity ahead of us as well.” LaPiana added: “It’s only a stepping stone, really. We’ve got a lot more good golf in us… It’s just another step for the Richmond Spiders golf program.”
