HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Gallaudet University Disc Golf Club opened its second season of collegiate competition with an impressive performance at the EMU Royals Classic in Harrisonburg, Va., on November 15-16. Competing in the Mixed Collegiate Division 1 (MC1) against the likes of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), Liberty University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University, the Bison finished in ninth place overall, highlighted by a phenomenal final-round team score.
The tournament consisted of two rounds on Saturday and one on Sunday. Team play begins round 1 and ends with singles play, culminating in the second round of team play on Sunday. The Gallaudet team featured: senior
Donovan Holmes (Valley Springs, Calif.), senior
Nicholas Barron (Faribault, Minn.), junior
Jaden Reader (Royal Oaks, Calif.), and senior
Travis Carrizales (Austin, Texas).
Gallaudet started the competition with a solid start in the opening team round with a 7-under 54. This initially placed the team in 11th place.
Senior
Nicholas Barron led the charge in the singles play with a 939-rated 2-under-par round on the challenging singles layout. His performance secured a tie for 15th place among 48 individual competitors. Holmes finished 23rd with an even-par 54, and rounding out with Carrizales and Reader placing 33rd and 42nd with scores of 3-over and 7-over rounds.
The event culminated in the final team round on Sunday, where the Gallaudet squad surged to secure their best team round of the weekend with a bogey-free score of 47 strokes, good for sixth out of 12 teams. Gallaudet's final score of 47 tied the EMU A team's score in the same round. The EMU A team consists of Jesse Longenecker, a professional disc golfer who played on the Disc Golf Pro Tour in 2025 and is the reigning Collegiate National Singles Champion. Matching the round score of a program led by a national champion shows Gallaudet's rapidly growing skill level.
Gallaudet's consistency and strong finish enabled them to move up the leaderboard from 11th after Round 1, securing a final position of 9th out of 12.
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The team is off for winter break. Several tournaments are scheduled for the spring semester.
