Springfield, Ohio – For the sixth straight year and the 22nd 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. 8 nationally, will compete for the 2015 NCAA Division III title May 12-15 at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C.
The tournament, hosted by Guilford College, will include 41 teams and a total of 210 competitors. The Tigers were one of 32 teams to qualify automatically after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship for the sixth straight year and seventh time overall.
The national tournament berth is Wittenberg’s 21st as a member of NCAA Division III and 22nd overall, including the program’s first-ever national bid in 1974 as a member of the College Division. A year ago, the Tigers finished fifth in the nation at the 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament, also hosted by Guilford at Grandover Resort.
The Tigers have 10 national top-10 finishes in program history. The best result came in 1990, when four-time All-American Rick Lyons led the Tigers to a fourth-place finish at Jekyll Island Golf Club in Jekyll Island, Ga. Wittenberg’s best finish under the direction of current Head Coach Jeff Roope was last year’s fifth-place finish.
Wittenberg has finished first in seven of its 11 tournaments in the 2014-15 season, including wins in four straight competitions to close the campaign. The last two tournament victories combined to give the Tigers the NCAC Championship Series title by 24 strokes over runner-up Kenyon.
The Tigers head into the national competition ranked third nationally in scoring average. In 25.5 rounds (one round was cut short by rain after nine holes), Wittenberg’s student-athletes have posted an impressive average score of 74.36. As a team, Wittenberg’s scoring average is 294.35, including a blistering round of 6-under-par 282 at historic Springfield Country Club in the final round of NCAC Championship Series #2 on Sunday, May 3.
Senior John Chaney (Gates Mills, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) earned the NCAC’s Bob Nye Award, given annually to the NCAC Championship medalist, after he accumulated 285 strokes over four rounds. He was the medalist in NCAC Championship Series #1 and NCAC Championship Series #2, sharing that honor in the latter tournament with senior Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy).
Andrews was named the winner of the Dick Gordin Award as the league’s Player of the Year for the second time in his career. Andrews narrowly leads the Tigers individually with a 73.37 stroke average, which ranks 16th nationally. He has won two tournaments during the 2014-15 season and recorded five top-five finishes, while Chaney ranks 19th in NCAA Division III in scoring average at 73.53.
Sophomore Sam Stilwell (Sterling, Va./Dominion) is right behind in scoring average at 73.78, good for 33rd nationally. Junior Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) heads into the national tourney at 74.38, good for 47th in the country, and senior Jared Wissinger (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) rounds out the team’s lineup with an average of 75.37, which ranks 95th in NCAA Division III.
Head Coach Jeff Roope, now in his eighth season leading the Red & White, has earned five NCAC Coach of the Year awards for his work with the men’s team and two awards on the women’s side.
Written By: Ryan Maurer