PREP BOYS GOLF: Elkhart, Fairfield, NorthWood claim top three finish at wet Goshen Invitational

TL;DR

Elkhart won the 2026 Goshen Invitational for the second consecutive year, finishing with a score of 309. Fairfield and NorthWood secured second and third places, respectively, amid challenging weather conditions.

Key points

Elkhart won the 2026 Goshen Invitational team trophy
All five Elkhart players finished in the Top 10
Fairfield placed second with a score of 352
NorthWood took third place with a score of 358
The tournament was held at Black Squirrel Golf Club

Mentioned in this story

Black Squirrel Golf Club

ElkhartFairfieldNorthWoodGoshen Invitational 2026

GOSHEN — Faced with steady wind, drizzling rain and wind chills that neared 40 degrees, boys golfers had more challenges than just the fairways and greens Saturday, April 18 at Black Squirrel Golf Club.

For the second straight year, Elkhart took the 2026 Goshen Invitational team trophy.

This time, the Todd King-coached Lions placed all five players in the Top 10 — Brenden Divido (3-over-par 75), Cameron Miller (76), Ben Divido (77), Ryan Molyneaux (81) and Nathan Windy (82) — on the way to shooting a 309.

Placing second in a 12-team field was Fairfield (352), followed by NorthWood (358), Westview A (359), Central Noble (363), Northridge (364), Concord (372), Westview B (376), Jimtown (379), Lakeland (380), Goshen Red (387) and Goshen Gray (445).

A shotgun start was used and players teed off from the blue tees, making it a 6,525-yard, par-72 layout.

Weather was a factor.

“There was a lot of squishy ground and standing water,” said King. “(My players) adjusted well. They had some bad holes, but then did a great job of bouncing back.”

King noted that Saturday presented almost a two-club difference from what his players were seeing at the range on Friday.

Fairfield was paced Saturday by senior Jake Elliott (80).

“It was pretty good throughout, though I had a couple of bad holes,” said Elliott, who carded a 39 on the front nine. “Other than that, I was just consistent.”

Elliott addressed the conditions.

“It’s all about the wind,” Elliott said. “You’ve just got to know which club to hit.”

What makes Black Squirrel a challenge?

“It’s tight,” Elliott said. “It’s not an easy course. It plays long with the wind, definitely.”

Fairfield first-year head coach Jason LeCount also talked about the weather.

“It’s a little bit of a mental thing,” LeCount said. “A lot of it is they’ll have a bad hole and they’ll start thinking, ‘I’m cold, I can’t shoot well and my hands hurt.’ That’s a hard thing to overcome, especially with yesterday being like 75 (degrees) and beautiful out and then today it’s in the low 40’s.”

LeCount also spotlighted the performance by the bottom of his lineup.

“Our (No.) 4 and (No.) 5 kind of picked us up,” said LeCount of freshman Logan Leatherman (92) and sophomore Brett Schrock (88). “I think we’ll shoot in the 330’s or 340’s once we get there. We have the Manchester Invitational next week. We’re hoping there are little better conditions. We have three other matches this week and can get some practice in (for another 18-hole tournament) and be a little better.”

Coached by Phil Ummel, NorthWood’s top shooter was senior Caleb Vincent (81).

Junior Luke Haarer (83) led his Jeff Marchant-coached Westview A quintet.

Turning in the best score for Ken Brewster-coached Northridge was freshman Jediah Hochstetler (87).