Huachai
took a career-best third with a two-day total of 144 as the Saints came in
eighth out of a 13-team field at Thunder Hills Country Club.
The Saints had a better day in Monday's final round, dropping 12 strokes from its first-round total.
"Monday was better than Sunday and we'll look to build off of that," AU Head Coach Chris Powers said. "Nac played really well and I'm proud of several players bouncing back from a tough first round on Sunday."
Huachai, a native of Thailand, settled into the campus one week after classes were underway, making a rushed transition from Florida to the Midwest. He has never seen snow, experienced the winter season or felt a temperature colder than about 50 degrees.
"I was cold this morning, probably because of a three-bogey start," mused Huachai, who started out bogey-par, bogey-par, bogey-par. "Then it got very hot. I needed to be hitting my tee shots straight because the course had really narrow fairways."
After receiving Midwest Collegiate Conference Player of the Week honors yesterday, Huachai continued his steady season play, making three birdies in both rounds this weekend. He finished behind the St. Ambrose 1-2 combo of PING NAIA All-American Dusty Drenth (69-65--134) and Jake Schertz (68-74--142) in the individual standings.
Golf runs in the family pipeline as his sister, Noon, finished the first stage of LPGA sectional qualifying last weekend in Palm Springs, Calif. She will be competing in Venice, Fla., in the near future to try to qualify for the final stage in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Freshman Lucas Mulholland (76) of Mount Vernon and Tyler Sukut (75) of Clinton both tied for 27th, dropping a combined 14 shots from Saturday's round.
Senior Mike Reddersdorf of Marengo, Ill., was steady with a pair of rounds at 85 and sophomore Colt Ostrum of Mount Carroll, Ill., pulled in with a two-day score of 178.
The Saints will be back in action for the two-round Iowa Wesleyan Invitational on Sept. 27-28.
