Kohlmeier Finishes Third in Nation for Emporia State Disc Golf at National Championships

Disc Golf | 4/3/2025 7:15:00 PM

April 3, 2025- Cade Kohlmeier birdied the final hole of the Final 9 to earn third place in the men's DI Singles competition to highlight day two for Emporia State at the Collegiate Disc Golf National Championships. Emporia State's Gold team of Atlanta Krueger and Madeline Joiner are in second place in the women's team competition, the Hornet men's DI team is in fourth place and the DII Black team is tied for fifth at the midway point of the National Championships in Rock Hill, S.C.
 
Kohlmeier started the Final 9 round with a bogey before five straight pars.  He birdied two of the last three to move into third place. He had a shot at second but Jaden Rye of Mary Hardin Baylor eagled the final hole to move into sole possession of second place.
 
Kohlmeier teamed with Justin Farrell, TJ Reel and Micah Tatro to shoot -10 in the morning's first round of team competition at the DI level. They were over for the day after three holes, but birdied ten of the next 11 to move up the rankings.  After three pars they birdied #18 to move into a tie with Georgia Tech for fourth at the midway point of the competition with a -9 overall score.  Cincinnati leads the competition at -14 overall after getting birdies on 12 straight holes from #5 through #16 before finishing par, birdie for a -15 round.
 
Krueger and Joiner were one over par through the first six holes and even after nine in the team competition. Starting at #12 the ESU Gold team would birdie four straight and five of their last seven holed to move into sole possession of second place at -5. They trail Liberty by four strokes after the Flames duo of Cami Lazo and Grace Wilson shot -10 in the round.  The Hornets are two strokes in front of Clemson. The Emporia State Black team of Maya Ringgold and Rebekah Thompson is in 12^th place at +14 overall after shooting a +3 in today's team competition.
 
With 92 teams and 368 golfers the DII competition was broken into two flights over the first two days with half of the teams playing singles yesterday and teams today with the other half doing the opposite. The Hornet Black team was in 50^th place base solely on their combined -5 from individual play on Wednesday.  Today the foursome of Isaiah Esquivel, Joshua Sterner, Caden Stucky and Grant Yoder combined to shoot -12 in the round to move to -7 overall. They had a string of eight straight birdies from #4 through #11 and finished up birdies on three of the final four to pull into a three way tie with Illinois State and Milligan for fifth place heading into tomorrow's second full team round. UNC-Charlotte and Mississippi State are leading the DII competition at -9.
 
Yoder's +2 in singles play placed him in a tie for 21^st in the DII singles play with Esquivel one stroke behind him at +3 and tied for 30^th overall.
 
Competition resumes on Friday in Rock Hill, S.C. with the Emporia State women's Black team teeing off at 8:30 a.m. followed by the Gold team on the lead card with Liberty at 9:20 a.m. at Winthrop Meadows.  The DI men's team will tee off at 10:40 a.m. at the Canaan Riverbend Course while the DII men's team will take the course at 2:00 p.m. at Winthrop Lake.