Craig Osterbrock is shooting for All-America honors for a second straight year.
Springfield, Ohio — For the second straight year and the 18th time in program history, the Wittenberg University men's golf team has earned the opportunity to compete in an NCAA Tournament. The Tigers, ranked No. 16 nationally, will compete for the 2011 NCAA Division III title May 10-13 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC.
The tournament, hosted by Guilford College and the Greensboro Sports Commission, will include 40 teams and a total of 205 competitors. The Tigers were one of 28 teams to qualify automatically after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship for the third time overall and second straight year.
The national tournament berth is Wittenberg's 17th as a member of NCAA Division III and 18th overall, including the program's first-ever national bid in 1974 as a member of the College Division. A year ago, the Tigers finished sixth in the nation at the 2010 NCAA Division III Tournament, hosted by Elizabethtown College at Hershey Links and Hershey Country Club in Pennsylvania. That was two spots below the program's best NCAA finish of fourth in 1990.
The Tigers were led in 2010 by Craig Osterbrock, class of 2013 from Wilmington, Ohio, who became the program's first All-American since Rick Lyons in 1992 after carding a one-under-par 71 in the fourth and final round to finish in a tie for 17th place with a total of 296. Osterbrock has not suffered from a sophomore slump, capping his 2010-11 regular season with a seven-stroke win at last week's Hiram Invitational, which served as the second round of the 2011 NCAC Championship Series.
That win earned Osterbrock a tie for first place in the overall competition with teammate Ben Hogenkamp, class of 2014 from Minster, Ohio. Osterbrock won a one-hole playoff over Hogenkamp to earn the NCAC's Bob Nye Award as the conference championship medalist.
With Osterbrock and Hogenkamp finishing in the top two spots to lead a four-man Wittenberg delegation of All-NCAC honorees, the Tigers cruised to a 29-stroke victory in the five-round NCAC Championship Series over Ohio Wesleyan. Head Coach Jeff Roope, now in his fourth season leading the Red & White, earned his second straight NCAC Coach of the Year award in recognition of his team's accomplishment.
Written By: Ryan Maurer
Photo By: Erin Pence
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