Tiger Men's Golf Finishes 16th at NCAA Division III Championships

PENFIELD, NY - Wittenberg Men's Golf battled to the end at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships before settling in to 16th place at the end of four soggy, cold rounds. The Tigers shot a 17-over-par score of 305 in the fourth round, split between nine holes late Thursday afternoon and another nine holes early Friday morning, to finish with a team total of 1209, 34 strokes off the pace set by top-ranked Methodist University.

Methodist went 6-under-par in the final round to overtake Illinois Wesleyan, which had led at the conclusion of each of the first three rounds. It was the third national title in four years for Methodist.

For Wittenberg, the NCAA Division III Championships appearance was the program's 13th since 2010, with the Tigers making the cut in 12 of those tournaments, including 11 straight dating back to 2012. Most recently, Wittenberg placed seventh in 2022, 13th in 2023, 15th in 2024, and now 16th in 2025.

Individually, the Tigers were paced by a freshman and a senior who both displayed tremendous consistency over the four rounds, three of which were played at Midvale Country Club, which was playing 6,558 yards. Mitch Bolte (Newark, OH / Newark) capped his inaugural collegiate campaign with a final round 76 to finish 27th out of 225 golfers who teed it up in the national tournament.

"This week was a good learning experience," Bolte said. "It gave me a chance to see how I stacked up with the best in the nation. This tournament gave the team and me a taste of the success that we are going to strive for next season."

Bolte's final standing was matched by Jake Yarbrough (Dublin, OH / Jerome), who made the most out of his final event in the Red & White, finishing 27th thanks to a stellar 73 in the fourth round.

Yarbrough's career concluded with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to move up five spots in the final individual standings.

Freshman Mikey Schutte (Cincinnati, OH / Elder) was next for the Tigers with a final-round 78 to finish 65th overall with a 306. Rounding things were junior Mark Sulek (Delaware, OH / Hayes) with a 78 in Round 4 to finish 90th with a 321 and senior Joshua Wright (Wadsworth, OH / Archbishop Hoban) with a final-round 80 to finish 91st with a 322.

"It was very satisfying to see the team come together the last month of the season and play great team golf," said Head Coach David Wetterich. "A conference championship and top 18 finish at the national championship is a great way to finish the season, not only for the seniors graduating, but also the younger guys who will be here more times in the future."

Written By: Ryan Maurer