Rain, snow, sleet and hail have delayed rounds in nearly every tournament the men’s golf team has played in this spring, but never before has 2011’s bad weather canceled a round of golf like it did Wednesday.

It could not have come at a worse time for the Panthers, who were eighth of nine teams at the end of the second round in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship at the Greystone Golf Club in Dickson, Tenn.

Senior Francisco Cherizola said he was disappointed because the rain canceled the third-round and he said he felt the Panthers could have moved up a few places in the rankings.

Cherizola said the players were informed of the cancellation during their 6 a.m. breakfast before they were set to tee off by head coach Mike Moncel.

The Panthers’ eighth place finish in the tournament was better than last year’s last place result that saw them 15 strokes behind the eighth place team. The team ended this year’s championship just two strokes behind the seventh place Tennessee State University team. Eastern ended round one tied for seventh with Tennessee Tech University but fell behind them by adding two strokes to their second round total while TTU shed three strokes.

Cherizola led all Panthers with a one-over-par 145 finish, which was good for 13th place. He was in the top 10 after round one, but added three strokes in round two. He said at the beginning of play on Tuesday he had the feeling that it might be his last because of the awful forecast for Wednesday.

“Because it was my last round in college, I hoped I’d put in a good round,” said Cherizola.

He ended his collegiate career with a 75.5 stroke average over 73 rounds of play.

Cherizola said he enjoyed his time playing golf at Eastern and that he has a much better understanding of the game now. He said he plans to return to his hometown in Mexico, look for a job and continue to enjoy the game of golf.

The only other Panther in the top twenty among individuals was junior David Lawrence, who finished nineteenth. He improved a full seven strokes from round one to round two, which tied two other players for the best improvement among all players in the tournament.

Lawrence ended up with the best average round on the team at 75.8 in 24 rounds this year.

Junior Gino Parrodi finished in a tie for twenty-eighth place. Last year, Parrodi finished in ninth place after being tied for third after the first round.

With Cherizola being the only departing senior, the team will have consistency going into next year.

Wednesday it was announced on eiupanthers.com that the men’s team had signed two freshmen to next year’s team.

James Jansen and Michael Koester, both from Saint Anthony High School in Effingham will play for the men in the fall.

Michael Koester is women’s golf player Kathryn Koester’s younger brother. Kathryn Koester said both siblings were privately coached by Moncel before coming to Eastern.

The women’s team signed Tiffany Wolf of Mattoon for the fall.

Doug T. Graham can be reached at 581-7944 or dtgraham@eiu.edu.