Johnson Paces Trojans at Harbor Shores

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Taylor's Javan Johnson earned a runner-up finish to lead the 11th-ranked Trojans at the Harbor Shores Intercollegiate.

Johnson tallied rounds of 70-73 to finish at 1-over par 143 and earn a runner-up finish behind Lawrence Tech's Bruno Vicente who carded rounds of 69-70 to finish at 3-under par 139. Johnson led the field with 26 pars during the tournament while finishing second in the field in par-5 scoring at 2-under par.

The Trojans stumbled out of the gate during Monday's opening round as Taylor posted its highest team score of the fall with 314. Entering Monday's round Taylor had tallied just one team score above 289 (298 in round two of The Players Club Invitational) but big numbers plagued TU at the 6,587-yard, par-71 layout of Harbor Shores in the opening round.

TU found itself in seventh place in the 8-team field entering Tuesday's final round but the Trojans mounted a charge, posting the second-lowest team score of the day with a 295.

Junior Noah Ross led the way with a 72 in the final round followed by 73 from Johnson, 74 from sophomore Adam Kasitz, 76 from junior Drew Pickering, and 77 from sophomore Austin Davis.

With Taylor's team score of 295 the Trojans moved up the leaderboard to finish in fourth place, three shots behind Grace. Spring Arbor took second while Lawrence Tech cruised to the team title.

Taylor will be back in action next week when the Trojans host the Egypt Valley Championship at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Michigan on Oct. 11-12.