Dan Buchan
MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Wittenberg Tigers started fast and finished almost as strong to claim second place in both the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship Tournament and the 2008-09 overall NCAC Championship Series standings. It was the best finish for the Tigers since they captured their lone team title in 1992.
The tournament couldn't have started better for the Tigers on Saturday, who carded a blistering opening round of 298 to take the early lead. While they were unable to hold onto the lead with a 316 in Round 2, Wittenberg remained well-positioned to overtake the host Allegheny Gators for second place. The Gators had finished in the top two every year since 1993.
That historic finish was solidified with a 304 in the third round on Sunday. The Tigers finished 20 strokes behind tournament and NCAC titlist Ohio Wesleyan with a three-round total of 918. They wound up three strokes ahead of the Gators after leading by five through the first two rounds. Overall, Wittenberg was well back from the Battling Bishops, who were ranked 11th nationally in the latest poll, but the Tigers held off Allegheny by 13 strokes.
Chad Summe
Senior Chad Summe (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) turned in his best round as a collegian with a par-72 opening round on the 6,629-yard course at Meadville Country Club. He followed that with rounds of 79 and 81 to place eighth with a score of 232. He finished 14 strokes off the pace set by Ohio Wesleyan's Jeff Nieman, who swept all of the conference's individual awards.
Senior Dan Buchan (Dublin, Ohio/Worthington Christian) passed Summe on Sunday and moved into fourth place in the tournament after posting a three-round total of 228, including phenomenal first and third round 74s. The rest of the Tiger lineup was made up of freshmen as Ben Smith (North Bend, Ohio/Elder) carded rounds of 82, 78 and 73 to finish 10th. In addition, Ricky Boerner (Hilliard, Ohio/Watterson) and Jordan Millice (Cable, Ohio/Triad) showed tremendous consistency, posting matching overall totals of 234 to tie for 12th place.
Based on scores in all four NCAC Championship Series tournaments, Boerner and Smith earned first-team all-conference awards, while Summe was a second-team honoree and Buchan rounded things out with honorable mention.
The Tigers are unlikely to advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament, but they are one of the teams being considered for an at-large berth by a committee of coaches. Methodist University will play host to the national tournament, which Wittenberg has not reached since 1993.