OBERLIN, Ohio — For the third year in a row, the Wittenberg Tigers turned in a dominating performance en route to the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship.
A week after winning the NCAC Championship Series #1 at Allegheny, the Tigers picked up right where they left off with a three-round win at the NCAC Championship Series #2 at Oberlin. Wittenberg finished with a five-round stroke total of 1500 to finish 40 strokes ahead of Ohio Wesleyan. Denison finished third, followed by DePauw and Allegheny in the 10-team field.
Craig Osterbrock was the medalist for a second straight week in the 2012 NCAC Championship Series.
Photo Courtesy Oberlin College
Junior Craig Osterbrock (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) was the medalist for the second straight week to earn NCAC Player of the Year honors. He carded tremendous rounds of 73 and 74 on the opening day despite cold, wet weather conditions, and he followed that up with an even-par 72 in the final round.
His total of 219 cleared the field by five strokes as Osterbrock became the third straight Wittenberg player to win the NCAC Championship Tournament. He became the first Tiger to claim both the Dick Gordin Award as the NCAC Player of the Year and the Bob Nye Award as the NCAC Championship Series medalist.
Wittenberg Head Coach Jeff Roope was named NCAC Coach of the Year.
Ranked 20th nationally, Wittenberg has earned its third straight berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Tigers will make their 19th national tournament appearance at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. May 15-18.
Osterbrock had plenty of help in powering the Tigers to a three-round team score of 899, which was 27 strokes better than Ohio Wesleyan and 30 ahead of third-place Denison. All five Tigers finished in the top 15 in the final individual standings, led by freshman Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) and sophomore Jack Uecker (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) with matching scores of 225, good for a third-place tie.
Senior Jordan Millice (Cable, Ohio/Triad) added a three-round total of 232 to place 13th and sophomore David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) rounded things out with a 233, good for 15th.