Men 1st, Women 2nd Heading Into Final Round of NCAC Championships

MANSFIELD, Ohio—The Wittenberg University golf program wrapped up its second day of play at the 2018 NCAC Golf Championships on Saturday. The Tigers are currently in first on the men's side, and second on the women's side heading into Sunday's final round. The men currently hold a five-stroke lead over Ohio Wesleyan, while the women are two-strokes behind DePauw. Jane Hopkinson-Wood sits atop the leaderboard on the women's side with two rounds of 72, while Colin Laszlo is in second after carding rounds of 73 and 70.

Following pre-championship balloting by eight of the nine league coaches, Wittenberg has been tabbed as the favorites to win its ninth-straight NCAC men's golf championship. The Tigers, who are under the direction of first-year head coach Michael Leotta, collected seven of the possible first-place votes cast by league coaches to top the poll with 71 total points. Kenyon earned the final first-place vote and finished second in the poll with 65 points, followed by Ohio Wesleyan (56), DePauw (40), Allegheny (38), Wooster (36), Denison (29), Wabash (17) and Hiram (8). 

The Wittenberg Tigers, who enter the championship ranked 17th in the GolfStat Top-25, will once again bring a stacked lineup to the event this spring as the team has combined to win four total tournaments between the fall and spring seasons. The Tigers earned a pair of their wins in the fall season at the Allegheny Fall Invitational in early September and at the 36-hole championship preview event at Westbrook C.C. in mid-October. Wittenberg than earned the top prize in late March at the Wynlakes Intercollegiate in Montgomery, Alabama, before closing out the regular season with a win last weekend at OWU's Strimer Memorial Invitational. Two of the Tigers' top golfers hail from the junior class, including Isaac Hartley and Colin Laszlo while 2017 NCAC Newcomer of the Year, sophomore Cameron Willis has also been a mainstay in the lineup this year. Hartley is the only Tiger with an individual win this season after picking up medalist honors last weekend at OWU's Strimer Memorial Invitational with a 36-hole score of 142 (71-71). 

Winners of the last three NCAC women's golf championships, Wittenberg narrowly edged DePauw as the favorites in this year's pre-championship poll following balloting by the league coaches. The Ohio Tigers earned three of the available first-place votes cast by the coaches for 33 total points, while the Indiana Tigers collected the final three first-place votes and finished second overall in the poll with 32 points. Denison was third overall with 25 points, followed by Wooster in fourth (17), Ohio Wesleyan in fifth (10) and Allegheny in sixth (9). 

The Wittenberg Tigers, who are under the leadership of first-year head coach Michael Leotta, enter the 2018 NCAC Golf Championships ranked 16th in the nation in the most recent GolfStat Top-25, while the DePauw Tigers are ninth in the country in the same rankings. Wittenberg has won two team events this season, winning its own Pat Clouse Invitational in early October, before capturing the team title earlier this spring at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational. DePauw has claimed three tournament titles during the fall portion of the season, highlighted by winning a 36-hole championship preview event at Westbrook C.C. in mid-October. Wittenberg senior Jane Hopkinson-Wood has once again led the charge for her squad this season with five total individual titles, winning medalist honors at Denison's Lynn Schweizer Invitational, DePauw's Dan Quayle Collegiate Classic, Wittenberg's own Pat Clouse Invitational, the NCAC Fall Preview event at Westbrook C.C. and finally earning the top prize at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational this spring. Hopkinson-Wood, who won the NCAC's individual championship in 2016, is also one of the top Div. III players in the country this season as she ranks third overall in the GolfStat individual rankings with an adjusted scoring average of 73.49. Hopkinson-Wood is one of four players returning to the championship field this year that received first-team All-NCAC honors last year with a top-five finish in the individual standings. Hopkinson-Wood finished second overall in 2017 with a 229