Springfield, Ohio — After a breakout 2009-10 season, the Wittenberg men's golf team has earned the respect of voters in the 2010-11 Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches' NCAA Division III preseason poll. Just four months after finishing sixth in its first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in 17 years, Wittenberg will start the new season ranked No. 9 in the nation.

The Tigers are coming off a 2009-10 season that included the program's first North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship since 1992 and culminated with the aforementioned performance at the national championships, hosted by Elizabethtown College in Hershey, Pa. Wittenberg started the 2009-10 campaign unranked, but by the end of a stellar fall season had moved into the top 25. By season's end, the Tigers had proven themselves as a bona fide national title contender - both for 2009-10 and beyond.

In 2010-11, Wittenberg returns four starters, including a pair of All-Great Lakes Region honorees in Ricky Boerner, class of 2012 from Hilliard, Ohio, and Craig Osterbrock, class of 2013 from Wilmington, Ohio. Osterbrock added third-team All-America honors after finishing 17th at the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Tigers' best individual national finish in nearly two decades, while Jordan Millice, class of 2012 from Cable, Ohio, earned the NCAA's prestigious Elite 88 award, which recognizes the student-athlete with the best grade point average in each of the organization's 88 championship events each year.

Wittenberg opens the 2010-11 season at the Denison Fall Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 4 and Sunday, Sept. 5. A year ago, the Tigers blistered the famed course at Granville Golf Club, finishing 20 strokes ahead of perennial national powerhouse DePauw with a two-day total of 587. Wittenberg's Bleu George earned medalist honors with a six-under-par 136, including a school-record 66 in the first round.

Written by: Ryan Maurer
Photo by: Erin Pence

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