Caleb Leak and Grace finished fourth at the Crossroads League Championships. (Photo provided by the Grace College Sports Information Department)

SOUTH BEND – Grace’s men’s golf team enjoyed its best Crossroads League Championship in recent memory this week.

The Lancers, led by Chad Spencer’s 13th-place showing, finished fourth out of nine teams with a two-day total of 635. Grace’s fourth-place result under head coach Denny Hepler was the best showing in over a decade.

The championship was intended to be a two-day, three-round event at Blackthorn Golf Course. But Monday’s weather shortened the opening day to a single round.

Tuesday’s weather was not much better with cold, damp conditions having an effect on the course and the golfers.

Chad Spencer was Grace’s best player on Monday with a first-round 80 in adverse conditions. He followed that up with a 76 on Tuesday for his 13th-place showing.

Noah Wright shot 84-74 for 17th place on the individual leaderboard; his 74 on Tuesday was a team-low and tied for sixth-best overall in the field.

Jacob Abrahamson (83-78) and Camden Gongwer (86-76) were separated by just one stroke; both golfers showed significant improvement between rounds. Caleb Leak’s 84-84 rounded out Grace’s scoring.

“Grace golf is on the rise, and the boys are fired up for next year already. They are going to work hard this summer to continue improving,” Hepler said. “I’m very proud of this team and the job that senior captain Chad Spencer did in his final tournament.”

The Lancers return 75 percent of their roster for next year, including four of their five competitors in this year’s tournament.