Hunter Stone ’24 (Findlay, Ohio) came to Marietta College to play soccer, but this past fall, he found a new athletic adventure — cornhole.
In December, the Sport Management student teamed up with Parker Dinan ’23, PA’25 (Nashport, Ohio), and brothers Nathan ’24 (Fleming, Ohio) and Westin Ritchie ’24 (Fleming, Ohio), and almost won the 2023 ACL National College Cornhole Championship.
“This event was important to me because I knew how much it meant to them,” Hunter said. “I am a very competitive person and will always strive to do my best at anything, and in this case, it was to put in extra work to compete against the other schools.”
Winning 12 matches to reach the championship game at the Myrtle Beach Sports Center in South Carolina, Marietta faced off again with Oklahoma State University’s “A” team. While Westin won his singles match, Nathan and Hunter lost by one bag in the final round and finished second in the nation.
“We didn’t strategize like we should have,” said Nathan, who is majoring in Management. “We beat them once, and we thought we’d beat them again.”
Parker added, “The first time we played them, they were caught off guard that we beat them. They said they had never heard of us and didn’t know us. The competition this year was way better. We improved, but everyone improved. Everybody was throwing at the same level. I was caught off guard by that.”
It was the third time that Parker, Nathan, and Westin had competed in the event, and it was the best finish for the team.
“We were very happy with where we finished, but it’s difficult knowing we could have won it all,” said Parker, who is in his first year of Marietta’s Physician Assistant Program. “Coming from a small school from a small town and being able to place second is something to be proud of.”
While the Pioneers came up just short of the title, Westin believes they earned some respect.
“I think they know who we are now,” said Westin, who is majoring in Psychology.
There were 15 teams and more than 100 competitors in the College Division.
Nathan said most of the teams had a “star” player, but they struggled to put together four strong players like Marietta.
“We were a more complete team, and this was our best chance to make a run through the tournament,” Nathan said. “We had confidence, and we all played better in the team event.”
Along with the second-place trophy, the Marietta team also won a $5,000 prize.
“We didn’t tell Hunter about the prize money until afterward,” Nathan said.
Hunter appreciated the omission.
“The championship game was very stressful. I was so excited to get there, and I knew what we had to do to win,” Stone said. “It is unfortunate how it resulted, but it is an experience I will never forget.”