Paced by another solid showing from sophomore Blake Sword, The College of Wooster golfers capped the fall season with their highest finish in four tournaments as the Fighting Scots came in fourth-place at the Hiram College Invitational, held Saturday and Sunday at Hawk's Nest Golf Club in nearby Creston, Ohio.

Making it all the sweeter, the tournament marked the second of four events in the season-long North Coast Athletic Conference Golf Championship Series, which determines the league's standings. Wooster's 632 this past weekend gives it a 1269 total, as the Scots leapfrogged Wabash College (1281) for fourth, while Wittenberg University holds a commanding lead (1195) over Ohio Wesleyan University (1218) and Allegheny College (1242). The top-five are well ahead of the four remaining NCAC squads.

Sword has been Wooster's No. 1 golfer throughout the fall and proved it again this weekend with back-to-back rounds in the 70s at the par-72, 6,680-yard course. He shot a two-over par (74) during the first 18 and followed it with a six-over (78) on Sunday en route to an eighth-place finish (152), marking his third top-10 of the fall.

Fellow sophomore Tim Faerber finished as the Scots' leader at the first NCAC event of the season (155) and he was not far off that pace this time with consistent scores of 79 and 80 (159). He tied for 21st overall, as did Michael Peters, another member of the sophomore class who bounced back from an 86 on Saturday with a 73, which was the fourth-lowest round among all 47 golfers over the second 18 holes.

Rounding out Wooster's starting lineup were sophomore Greg Benckart and senior Tim Sullivan, who tied for 26th (79-83) and 39th (92-83), respectively.

The Scots will resume their competitive season in March.