STATESBORO, Ga. – Sophomore Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) saved his best round for the final day as his score of 69 in Sunday's finale vaulted him to an eighth-place finish at the 41^st playing of the Schenkel Invitational at the Forest Heights Country Club. Joining Hopkins in the top-10 was sophomore Frankie Capan III (North Oaks, Minn./Northwest Christian HS/Alabama) who tied for 10^th overall. FGCU finished the prestigious tournament fourth as a team with a three-day total of 873.
 
"I'm proud of our team – it was an extremely difficult start to the day, but they did a great job hanging in there until the end," said head coach Andrew Danna. "We will look to learn from this week and will get ready to go again at the Furman Intercollegiate in a few days."
 
Hopkins shot 214 for the 54 holes with Sunday's 69 service as his season-low round for the spring. His total score of 214 tied his low tournament total which he shot at the Linger Longer Invitational as well.
 
Capan finished two strokes behind after carding a 78 on Sunday. His three-round total of 216 was bolstered by shooting 69 in both the first and second rounds.
 
As a team, the Eagles' 873 was just three strokes behind third-place Furman which shot 303 on Sunday which was behind FGCU's 301 score. No. 21 N.C. State won the overall team title with a three-day total of 839. The Wolf Pack also featured the tournament's individual winner as Benjamin Shipp shot 200 over the course of the weekend. Host No. 40 Georgia Southern took second (866), while the Eagles finished ahead of four other teams ahead of them in the GolfStat.com rankings including No. 38 Kentucky (6^th, 884).
 
Hopkins carded six birdies on Sunday while going par-or-better on 15 of the 18 holes. After a bogey to start the day, he had 13 consecutive holes without going over and sat at four-under following the No. 14 hole. He shot one-over on the next two holes before going par on No. 17 and carding a birdie on No. 18 to finish the round three-under.
 
Capan was plus four on the front nine, but held steady on the back side with a birdie on No. 11 pulling him back to just three over. A triple-bogey on No. 17 followed by a par on No. 18 gave him a 78 on the day.
 
Senior Van Holmgren (Plymouth, Minn./Waysata HS/North Dakota State) finished tied for 27^th (221) after shooting 79 on Sunday, while junior Brady Madsen (Raymond, Minn./MacCray HS/Winona State) shot 76 to finish with 223 rounding out the scoring foursome. Freshman Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) shot 78 for a 232 54-hole total.
 
FGCU, ranked No. 83 in this week's GolfStat.com Rankings, are part of a 13-team field which features three top-50 programs and 11 top-100 squads. N.C. State leads the field at No. 21, followed by No. 38 Kentucky and No. 40 Georgia Southern. Just prior to the start of Friday's action, Army had to drop out of the field as a team.
 
FGCU will have one final road trip to the Furman Intercollegiate (March 26-28) before hosting the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate on April 12-13 at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero to close out the regular-season. The ASUN Championship will be played April 18-20 at the UGA Golf Club in Athens.
 
FGCU Lineup:
8 - Jon Hopkins – 71-74-69 – 214
T10 - Frankie Capan III – 69-69-78 – 216
T27 - Van Holmgren – 72-70-79 – 221
T33 - Brady Madsen – 73-74-76 – 223
T68 - Austin Cherichella – 76-78-78 – 232
 
Schenkel Invitational Field:
1 - #21 NC State – 272-279-288 – 839 
2 - #40 Georgia Southern – 275-290-301 – 866
3 - #89 Furman – 282-285-303 – 870
4 - #83 FGCU – 285-287-301 – 873
5 - #57 East Tennessee State – 292-293-297 – 882
6 - #38 Kentucky – 301-291-292 – 884
T7 - #92 Middle Tennessee State – 287-295-304 – 886
T7 - #94 Rutgers – 298-289-299 – 886
9 - #78 College of Charleston – 285-299-304 – 888
10 - #126 Memphis – 293-299-298 – 890
11 - #62 Campbell – 288-299-304 – 891
12 - #77 Cincinnati – 292-309-304 – 905
13 - #146 Troy – 298-304-306 – 908
 
 
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 40 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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