Liberty's Division I men's team of Tim Schmidt (from left), Greyson Lifto, Jonah Burdick, and Addison Sells placed seventh out of 22 teams at the Southeast Collegiate Open near Spartanburg, S.C.
Disc golfers brave elements, finish in top half of field at 22-team SECO tournament
2/19/2025 2:58:00 PM | Disc Golf
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Liberty's DI and DII men's teams placed seventh, and 11th, respectively in the overall standings while its reigning national champion DIII squad finished fourth.
With the College Disc Golf National Championships just 10 weeks away, Liberty University's men's and women's disc golf team got a jump start to its spring semester schedule this past weekend by traveling to compete in the Southeast Collegiate Open (SECO), a 22-team tournament run by North Carolina State and played on two courses — Tyger River in Duncan and Holston Creek in Inman, just outside of Spartanburg, S.C.
Playing through conditions that were anything but conducive to carding low scores on Saturday, the Flames struggled with the rest of the field through two rounds of doubles play and one round of singles.
"Playing in that type of weather was crazy," Flames Head Coach Steve Bowman said. "It was insane, easily among the top five or six most extreme conditions for a disc golf tournament that we've seen.
"We had an inch of rain that started in the night and continued into the day, and then it rained even harder after the first day of competition," he added. "There was so much water standing on the course that they had to close two of the holes."
Among a total field of 180 players between Division I, II, and III men and Division I women, Milligan was the overall winner in all four divisions, with its DI men coming in at 21-under par.
Individually for Liberty, Lifto and Sells finished four strokes behind the winner from Milligan with rounds of 2-under-par in singles play.
In the women's competition, senior Cami Lazo placed eighth, with her playing partner, graduate Grace Wilson, away competing with the women's ultimate team at a tournament in Axton, Va. Meanwhile, junior Bethanne Castiglione and senior Brianna Bowman teamed up for a ninth-place showing.
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Liberty DII men's player Evan Riley tees off.
Other teams in the field came from Appalachian State, Central Florida, Clemson, East Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Toccoa Falls (Ga.) College, Virginia Tech, and Western Carolina.
"This was our first tournament for the year, so there was a lot of learning going on," Bowman said. "It's all been practice, so in the real flux of it, they were able to put into play what they've practiced in the flow. In these live settings, it was good to see who can perform under pressure, communicate with their teammates, and perform well."
"These were extreme conditions, so we know we will be better when we have more favorable weather to play in," he added. "It was a rough weekend, but we will be all right because we're a resilient bunch."
Liberty expects to reach capacity with 15 colleges and universities on hand for the March 1-2 Flamethrower National Qualifier. Bowman has already received confirmations from Appalachian State, Augusta (Ga.) University, Cincinnati, Clemson, Eastern Mennonite University, Georgia, Houghton (N.Y.) University, Milligan, Mount Vernon (Ohio) Nazarene Christian University, UNC Chapel Hill, Ohio, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech.
With the New London Tech course under construction, the tournament will feature two doubles rounds and one singles round on Liberty's courses on East Campus and at the Hydaway Outdoor Center on Saturday followed by a third doubles round on Sunday at the Ivy Hill Golf Club, which was used for the Professional Disc Golf Association's World Championships this past August.
The Flamethrower will offer three team bids to the April 2-5 College Disc Golf National Championships in Rock Hill, S.C., though Liberty has already clinched a national bid after its women's DI and men's DIII teams won national titles last April and its DI men's team tied for first place at the Mid-Atlantic Region National Qualifier in New York in October.
In late July, 15 members of Liberty's team will travel to Finland for a mission trip in the same areas around Helsinki where the Flames' and Lady Flames' Division I hockey teams have traveled in recent winters. The disc golf team members will be volunteering — while one or two recent graduates could actually be competing — at the July 26-Aug. 3 PDGA World Championships in the towns of Nokia and Tampere.
