UMAC Men's Golf Championship to Begin Thursday
2014 Championship Website
Chat Wrap: UMAC Men’s Golf Coaches
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – The seven men’s golf teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) will compete in 2014 UMAC Men’s Golf Championship in at Alexandria Golf Club in Alexandria Minn., this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The winner of the three-day event and 2014 UMAC Championship will also earn the league’s bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Championship in May.
The 2013 UMAC Champion, Bethany Lutheran College, enters the Championship event looking to defend their title from a year ago. In addition to taking first place at the UMAC Preview event in early September the Vikings also finished in the top spot at four other events this season. As a team Bethany Lutheran averages a 312 per round team score per contest. The Vikings are led by three-time UMAC All-Conference recipient Jon Pederson who ranks second in the conference with his 75.3 per 18-holes average this season. Josh Hansen and Kiley Miller add depth to the Vikings lineup and will look to contend for all-conference honors in Alexandria with 77.9 and 78.9 averages on the season respectively.
Claiming the 2014 title will not be an easy task for the Vikings as they will have a competitive field of UMAC teams challenging for the top spot. Crown College, who finished in second place and seven strokes behind the Vikings at the Preview event hopes to be in the hunt for the trophy this season. The Storm who are ranked second in the conference and average a 315.8 team score this season have finished in second place in three outing this season and just last week finished in first place at the Mid Country Bank Classic. Tom Messner, who was the top individual finisher at the Mid Country Bank Classic, leads the Storm with an average score of 75.5 which is currently third in the conference.
Martin Luther College finished third at the Preview event and currently sits third in UMAC team scoring averages thanks in part to the strong play of freshman Erik Hansen so far this season. Hansen is averaging a 76.1 on the season, including a second place individual finish at the Minnesota River Valley Invite just last weekend.
Following Martin Luther College and finishing in fourth place at the Preview event was North Central University. The Rams are anchored by Brett Volker and Josh Hostetler who are averaging 79.3 and 80.8 on the 2014 season respectively. The top team performance for the Rams this season was at the Northwestern Dual where they shot an 18-hole team score of 315.
Finishing just two strokes behind the Rams at the Preview event was Northland College. The LumberJacks, who hope to improve upon their fifth place Preview finish at the Championship event, are led by Evan Lunda. Lunda was the individual champion at the Preview after shooting an even par score of 72. He also finished in the top spot at both the Northland and Northwestern Invitational this season. In addition, his 18-hole average score of 73.8 currently ranks first in the conference.
Just one stroke separated the final two teams in the field at the Preview event. The University of Northwestern finished in sixth place overall and has high hopes of improving on their team score at the Championship event. In order to do so the Eagles will need to rely on the steady play of Nicholas Demuth and Jeff Rynning who have been consistent for the Eagles this season.
While the University of Minnesota Morris finished in the final spot at the Preview event, they have continued to improve since that time and are currently in fourth place in the conference team rankings. As a team Minnesota Morris shot their best round of the season at the Northwestern Invitational finishing with a score of 320. The Cougars have several golfers with Championship experience returning to the field and will look to that experience in hopes of bettering their finish from the Preview event.
The seven UMAC teams will tee off at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Alexandria Golf Club. The winner of the 2014 UMAC Men’s Golf Championship will represent the conference at the 2015 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship May 12-15, 2015 at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina.