HOWARD, Ohio -- Turning the tide of a shaky history at the American Mideast Conference title event, the Notre Dame Falcons placed third at the AMC Championship on Friday. (Results)

Seniors #Tony Pinzone# and #Brooks Steputis# closed out their careers on College Road by pacing NDC with Top-10 finishes, and the Falcons earned their best finish in the circuit's season-ending, three-round tournament. Pinzone carded a seventh-place finish with a 12-over 228 (72-76-80). Steputis tied for ninth in the 50-man field, with a 75-79-78--232 (+16). As a team, NDC's four-man score was 305-314-317--936.

That score topped seven teams of the 10 in the field. Prior to Friday's finish, NDC had never placed higher than ninth in the tournament, and in five previous years (2005-09) the Falcons had gone a combined 3-50 in the league event.

“What a great way to end the season,” said Head Coach #Nick Formica#. “The guys really stepped up the last few events and played well. I think the program took a big step forward this year and in particular, this spring.”

The season Formica referenced ends with Notre Dame owning an aggregate won-loss record of 46-31 (.590). The Falcons' previous best single-season record was posted last year (2008-09) when the Blue & White went 16-38 (.290). NDC carded a disappointing ninth-finish at the 2009 AMC Championship, the second straight year the Falcons had placed ninth in a 10-team field. Prior to that, Notre Dame had finished 11th in 2007 and 13th in both 2006 and 2005.

NDC's bronze-medal 2010 finish came over three rounds in two days at the Apple Valley Golf Course in Howard, Ohio. Falcon linksters posted nine rounds in the 70s over the two days at the 6,946-yard, par-72 Apple Valley track. Three of those 70-something rounds were garnered by Brooks Steputis, who closed out his Falcon career with four straight sub-80 rounds (75-75-79-78).

The AMC elite five -- the Pioneers of Malone University -- won the AMC title event, with a dominant four-man score of 288-296-292--876, which is just eight strokes over par. With the victory, Malone earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament at TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., May 18-21. The Pioneers' Justin Lower earned medalist honors at the event with a score of 67-71-76--214 (2-under). MU's Ben Smith (74-74-68--216, even) and Richie Schembechler (73-75-72--220, 4-over) placed second and third, respectively.

Finishing 55 strokes behind Malone was second-place Cedarville (306-309-316--931).


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

A BIRDIE THREE: Freshman #John Angelo# finished 14th at Apple Valley, carding a 79-78-78--235. In posting those scores, Angelo closed out the 2009-10 season by notching a program-best seven straight rounds in the 70s. The Mayfield Heights, Ohio, native finished the season by nipping Tony Pinzone and Brooks Steputis for the team scoring title: Angelo posted a season stroke average of 77.5; Pinzone averaged 77.7; Steputis averaged 77.9. … NDC's final team average was 80.0. 

TWO EARN ALL-CIRCUIT HONORS:  Pinzone and Steputis both earned All-AMC honors at the tournament.  The 10-team league awards All-AMC status to the top 10 finishers at the annual championship finale.

LATE KICK: In a nine-day period, from April 22-30, Notre Dame went a combined 27-7 over four events. That season-ending stretch included a fifth-place finish in a field of 17 (Wooster), a tournament victory in a field of eight (Grove City) and the third-place finish at the AMC Championship.