MAYETTA, Kan. - Trailing first place by six strokes heading into the final round of the Firekeeper Invitational, No. 8 Oklahoma Christian came through with a field-low 8-under 280 to win the final regular season tournament with a 54-hole score of 5-under 859.
No. 5 Central Oklahoma finished second in the tournament, finishing 10 shots behind OC. Concordia-St. Paul, which came into the day in first place, finished third at one stroke back of UCO. Hutchinson CC and tournament-host Washburn rounded out the top-5.
As a team, Oklahoma Christian had the second most birdies (44) in the field while playing all par 3s (1-over) and par 4s (18-over) the best of any team in the Invitational.Â
Aiding the Eagles' third-round rally was three golfers carding a 1-under 71 or better.
Leandro Mihaich led the way with the low scores, matching a field-best 5-under 67.
Oskari Nikku did not stray far from Mihaich, shooting a final-round 3-under 69 as both All-Americans placed third in the 112-player field.
Mihaich paced the competition on day three thanks to five of his three-round total 11 birdies coming in the third round, while also carding an eagle on the par 5 4th. Nikku finished the tournament with the third-most birdies in the field with 13.
Exequiel Rodriguez was the third Eagle to play the third round under, shooting a 1-under 71 to finish 1-under 215 for the tournament for a spot at seventh. Rodriguez joined Nikku with the best par 3 score across the three rounds in the field, playing those holes 2-under.
Joey Lewis moved up 19 spots on the player leaderboard, serving as the fourth countable score with a third-round 1-over 73. Lewis finished in a tie for 32nd with a three-round score of 8-over 224.
Blas Ayesa rounded out the Eagle five-bag with an event-score of 11-over 227.
Vertti Perala finished his week as an individual 29th at 7-over 223 while being tied for the sixth-most pars (37) in the field and the most of any OC golfer.
With its first tournament victory of 2025 under its belt, No. 8 Oklahoma Christian will now turn its attention to the Lone Star Conference Championships Apr. 14-16 in Rockwall, Texas.
