College football

Westminster 54,

MLC 6

FULTON, MO. — The Martin Luther College football team was unable to slow down the high-powered Blue Jays of Westminster College in a 54-6 defeat on Saturday.

Ian Paulsen entered the game at quarterback early in the first half and finished with seven completions for 75 yards and one touchdown pass to Josh Schroeder. Josh Wong led MLC with 27 yards rushing on 12 carries.

Nate Wong led the MLC defense with six total tackles.

The Knights fell to 3-2 on the season and 2-2 in UMAC play in defeat.

MLC will host UM-Morris on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the homecoming game.

Men’s cross country

MILWAUKEE — The Martin Luther College men’s cross country team won the 2017 Warrior Cross Country Invitational hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday.

The Knights finished the event with 67 total points, topping the second place finishers from WLC by 22 points.

Benjamin Bitter led MLC with a second place finish following a time of 25:57.72. He was joined by Ryan Gurgel (sixth) and Justin Wilkens (seventh) in the top 10, while Joshua Brands (25th) and Jonathan Fleischmann (27th) rounded out the top five for the Knights.

The Knights will return to action at 5:30 p.m. Friday, when they run at Loras.

Women’s cross country

MILWAUKEE — The Martin Luther College women’s cross country team finished fifth at the Warrior Cross Country Invitational hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday.

The Knights finished the event with 150 total points and took fifth place out of 15 schools at the race. St. Norbert won the event with 49 total points, followed by Dubuque (58) and Northwestern University (101).

Leah Miller led the way for MLC with a time of 26:12.69, good for 22nd place. She was followed by Rebecca Boehlke (26th), Abby Lash (29th), Eliza Punzel (33rd) and Sydney Cody (40th) to round out the MLC top five.

MLC will return to action 4:45 p.m. Friday, when it runs at Loras.

Men’s golf

HUTCHINSON — The Martin Luther College men’s golf team finished the two-day Viking Invitational in seventh place on Saturday at Oakdale Golf Club.

Senior Alex Lindemann opened the tournament on Friday with his highest scoring round of the season, but came back on Saturday to score 75 to set a new personal best as a collegiate player. His round was tied for the third-lowest of any player on Saturday, and bumped him up 19 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 22nd place with a two-day total of 168 strokes.

Ethan Jaeger finished the event as the top individual finisher after a two-day total of 165 (81, 84) to tie for 19th place. He was followed by Zackary Zuberbier (31st place) and Chris Biebert (t41st).

MLC finished the event with 685 total strokes. Northwestern won the tournament with a two-day total of 609 strokes, followed by St. Scholastica (621) and UW-Superior (625).

MLC will return to action on Thursday, when it starts the three-day UMAC Championships held at Alexandria Golf Club.

Women’s golf

HUTCHINSON — The Martin Luther College women’s golf team finished the two-day Viking Invitational in sixth place on Saturday at Oakdale Golf Club.

The Knights’ Day 2 team score of 410 strokes set a new season-low, breaking the previous score by eight strokes. The team finished with a two-day total of 830 total strokes.

Alison Lindemann was the top MLC finisher with a two-day total of 194 strokes following a Saturday round of 95. That was good for 17th place on the final leaderboard.

Katheryn Hansen and Sydney Peterson tied for 26th place with two-day scores of 209 strokes, while Elizabeth Mantz finished in 28th place with a score of 218. Hansen’s Saturday round of 98 set a new personal best as a collegiate player.

St. Scholastica won the event with 709 total team strokes, followed by Northwestern (758) and UW-Superior (765).

MLC will return to action on Thursday, when it starts the three-day UMAC Championships held at Alexandria Golf Club.