Springfield, Ohio – After leading the Wittenberg Tigers to their fourth straight North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship and NCAA Division III Tournament appearance, sophomore Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy), junior David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) and junior Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster), have earned PING All-Great Lakes Region honors from the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Andrews has followed a stellar inaugural collegiate campaign with one of the best seasons in program history. Heading into the NCAA Division III Tournament, Andrews led the Tigers and ranked among the top 25 nationally with a 73.8 stroke average. He has won two tournaments during the 2012-13 season and recorded five top-five finishes, and he capped his regular season with a dominating performance in the NCAC Championship Series.
Andrews finished first in the Ted Barclay Invitational at Denison and sixth in the NCAC Championship Series #2 at Ohio Wesleyan to run away with both the Bob Nye Award as the conference championship medalist and the Dick Gordin Award as the NCAC Player of the Year. Andrews, a first-team All-NCAC honoree in both 2012 and 2013, finished with a four-round total of two-over-par 286 to win the series title by a whopping 11 strokes.
Wetterich was a second-team All-American a year ago after posting a 14th-place finish in the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament. He has five top-10 finishes to his credit in the 2012-13 season and a stroke average of 75.7, which ranks third on the team. He was a second-team All-NCAC honoree after placing eighth in the NCAC Championship Series.
Hogenkamp has two tournament wins and four top-five finishes to his credit in the 2012-13 season, to go along with a stroke average of 75.3, which is second-best on the team. He was a first-team All-NCAC honoree in 2011.
The team’s victory in the NCAC Championship Series earned the Tigers their fourth straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Wittenberg has made a total of 19 NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and 20 national tournament appearances overall, including a 1974 berth in the NCAA College Division Tournament.
Wittenberg has finished first in six of its 11 tournaments in the 2012-13 season, including wins at Denison and the prestigious Gordin Classic, hosted by Ohio Wesleyan, in the fall and concluding with victories in The Members Invitational hosted by Wittenberg in Hilton Head, SC, and at Wooster, Denison and Ohio Wesleyan in the spring. The final two tourney titles earned the Tigers their fourth consecutive victory in the NCAC Championship Series.