September 7, 2019
WRITTEN BY: Jack Rubin and Jack Casebolt
2019-2020 Men’s Local College Golf Preview
Division 1
Ohio State – The Buckeyes will be without Daniel Wetterich and Will Grimmer, two promising professional golfers for the first time in four years. A new crop of young players is ready to make their mark, as Juniors Kevin Stone and Laken Hinton are expected to lead OSU in the 2019-2020 season. Freshman Felix Kvarnstrom is an elite recruit out of Gothenburg, Sweden, but we will be watching for the performances of Jerome alum Jackson Chandler and Central Crossing alum Caleb Davern early this fall. Another difficult, yet awesome schedule awaits the Buckeyes.
Ohio – OU returns a young lineup, lacking a single senior on the roster. Some fresh faces from Ecuador, Switzerland and North Carolina will look to infiltrate a lineup that brings back local players Austin Dyson and Adam Stephens. Vandalia Butler alum Zach Crawford, a borderline underrated guy who could challenge for the MAC Championship will likely lead the Bobcats in 2019. Ohio will have to adapt to another coaching change this season, their third different coach in the past three seasons.
Dayton – Head Coach Gip Hoagland brings a solid squad back for 2019, including the addition of two Southwest District studs Kyle Schmidt (Lakota East) and Dylan Stevens (Wyoming HS). Sophomore Blake Solomon (Dublin Jerome) and Connor Quigley (Oakwood) will look to fill the void left by top seniors Jake Gilkison and Ryan Flick last year. Domenic Mariococchi and Hayden Zimmerer should round out the top-5 for the Flyers this season.
Wright State – A lot of good things continue to happen for the Raiders down in Dayton. Coach Brian Arlinghaus continues to load up on quality recruits from Central Ohio and around the state. Sophomores right out of the OCC, Cole Corder (Liberty) and Davis Root (Jerome) will look to once again provide good play in 2019. Senior Austin Schoonmaker and Junior Bryce Haney are from SW Ohio and should complete the Raiders’ lineup as they go for a Horizon League repeat.
2019 NCAA Men D2 College Preview (Written by Jack Casebolt with additions/edits by Jack Rubin)
Ohio Dominican – The Panthers are returning 7 players from last year and should be led by Sophomores Robert Holden, Ben Herman and Senior Blake Saffell. Last year, the Panthers’ showed some class down the stretch, with their best finish coming at the “Bill Blazer Memorial” (602, 2nd). They are a young team with only 3 upperclassmen and young players like Holden and Herman will have to continue to play well for the Panthers to contend for a GMAC Championship. Blake Saffell (SR, Fisher Catholic) Dalton Crowley (SO, Zanesville) and Trey Blalock (FR, Pick. Central) are some Central Ohio players who could make big impacts for the Panthers.
Ashland – The Eagles are coming off a year in which they advanced to the match play final of the GLIAC Championship. Ashland will certainly miss Westerville Central’s Austin Kondratick this year. Kondratick’s senior season was last year and it was an impressive one as he advanced to regionals as an individual. They have four freshmen coming in including Olentangy Liberty’s Caden Gallagher, as well as the return of 8 players from last year. This year they will be led by the one-two punch of Junior Benjamin Jones and Senior Patrick Steffen.
Urbana – The Blue Knights will be led by Sophomore standout Luc Toupin who averaged a score of 76.53 last year. They have 5 players returning from last year. The Blue Knights’ best finish last year was 4th at the Ohio Valley Highlands Cup Challenge. They will be playing a nice course to begin the season at the ODU Kickoff Classic which will be hosted for the first time at the 2018 Ohio Amateur site — Wedgewood Golf & Country Club.
Tiffin – The Dragons’ best finish last year was winning their home tournament at Mohawk Country Club in the fall. They have 10 returners from last season and should be led by Junior Noah Barth and Senior Sam Reid and Olentangy Liberty’s Cameron McCloskey. The Dragons have Worthington Christian’s Will Evans coming in as well as some other recruits from the Central Ohio area. The Dragons had a bit of a down year last year finishing 5th in the GMAC. However, with their impressive depth and experience this year they should be contending for the GMAC championship.
Findlay – The Oilers will have a great team once again this year. They will be led by Senior Luke Kelly and Sophomores Tanner Grzegorcyzk and Mechanicsburg’s Caleb Westfall. They have 11 returners from last year. The Oilers’ best finish last year was winning the Motor City invitational with a score of 610 over the two rounds. Similar to Tiffin, the Oilers have a lot of depth and experience. They will look to win their second GMAC championship in the last three years. As one of the top D-II teams in the entire region, it could be a real possibility the Oilers contend at the National Championship.
Cedarville – The Jackets return a solid core between Isaak Ramsey, Jared Hoelzen, Watkins Memorial alum Cody Cogdill and Hayden James. Under two-time Head Coach Ryan Bowen, Cedarville will need that nucleus to improve for success. Recruits Mitch Jeffe and Hilliard Davidson’s Caleb Stimmel could make a nice impact this year, and over the next four season. Overall, the Jackets have solid, consistent depth but at the same time, will need someone to consistently take it low.
D-III
Otterbein – Already two events into their fall, the Otterbein Cardinals have had respectable finishes at Transylvania and ODU, finishing 9th/16 and 3rd/12, respectively. Head Coach Brian Booher returns top-players Kurt Fortman and Spencer Jordan, as well as Granville alumni Coury Rogers and Tyler Dunfee. The Cardinals will be gunning for their sixth consecutive OAC Championship this season, and 10th since 2009.
Ohio Wesleyan – The Bishops return 4 of the players who competed in last spring’s NCAC tournament, including Senior Will Efkeman, Junior Jack Funderburg (West. Central), Sophomore Luke Boerner (Olentangy) and Sophomore Justin Skinner (Jerome). The latter was the NCAC Newcomer of the Year after a second-place finish at the NCAC Tournament. Coach Ian Miller will look to take the Bishops back to the top of the NCAC after back-to-back runner-up finishes, and effectively qualify for the NCAA Championship.
Denison – Led by first-year Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach Lauren Grogan, the Big Red will return a young team. Senior Christian Early will be at the top of the lineup for most, if not all of the 2019-2020 season. Denison brings in three freshman that should make a solid impact along with Sophomore Marc Mitchell, who averaged a shade above 74 a season ago.
Kenyon – Might be a little bit of a snub that the Lords didn’t sneak into the top-8 of the Great Lakes NCAA D-III Preseason Rankings. I like this team’s chances of success this year even after losing Robert Williams. Kenyon still returns Lawrence Courtney, Nick Lust, Eric Lifson and Andrew Kotler.
Wittenberg – The Tigers are back for another run at the NCAA Championship this year. “Witt” brings in, and also returns a ton of talent such as Cameron Willis, Chris Dunne, Evan DiSanto and Ryan Mallette. Currently ranked as the No. 1 team in the Great Lakes region and 6th in the nation (for D-III), the Tigers will have their sights aimed high once again under coach Michael Leotta.
Capital – A little surprised with a solid 603 score in the first tournament of the year for the Crusaders, in which they finished in fourth out of 9 squads. Losing one of their best players in school history, Logan Holbrook, I thought would really sting them, but the addition of Lakota East alum Shane Murphy is paying dividends. Murphy led Capital last week with rounds of 71 and 76 at Zoar, a total of 147. Chris Dearth, Angelo Donato and Ryan Czerniakowski are all expected to make impacts for the Crusaders in 2019.
NAIA
MVNU – It’ll be an interesting year for the Cougars, as their finishes are extremely dependent on whether it is a D-II or NAIA tournament. Coach King added one of the top-15 2019 players in Central Ohio, Michael Hahn. The Gahanna Lincoln standout should be a regular starter for the Cougars for his four years in Mount Vernon. Possible scoring-leader Nick Harmon and also Adam Grate will be in their lineup.
