Tigers Rally For Another Tourney Title; Secure NCAC Championship
Wittenberg came from way behind to pick up a one-stroke victory at Ohio Wesleyan as Alex Andrews and Jeff Roope give Tigers a sweep of the NCAC's individual awards.
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| NCAC Player of the Year Alex Andrews shows off his trophies with NCAC Coach of the Year Jeff Roope. |
DELAWARE, Ohio – The Wittenberg Tigers captured their seventh tournament championship of the 2012-13 season and third in a row with a first-place finish in the NCAC Championship Series #2, hosted by Ohio Wesleyan.
The victory at Oakhaven Golf Club may have been the sweetest. The Tigers were forced to rally from 11 strokes behind after the first round, storming back by shaving 10 strokes off their score to finish with a two-day total of 616, one ahead of Allegheny.
Most importantly, the tourney title earned the Tigers their fourth straight NCAC Championship and the accompanying NCAA Division III Tournament berth. Wittenberg will hope to improve upon last year's seventh-place finish in the national competition when the Tigers travel to Destin, Fla., May 14-17 to play the course at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort.
Wittenberg placed first in the NCAC Championship Series with a four-round score of 1,202, taking into account two rounds at Granville Golf Course last week and two rounds at the par-71, 6,876-yard Oakhaven Golf Club. Ohio Wesleyan placed second at 1,220, followed by Allegheny at 1,233.
On the final weekend, the Tigers shot rounds of 313 and 303 to lead Allegheny by one stroke and Ohio Wesleyan by five. Wittenberg was paced by sophomore Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy), who placed second in the competition hosted by Ohio Wesleyan with a score of 148 but comfortably won the Bob Nye Award as the championship medalist after carding a four-round total of two-over-par 286.
Andrews was further honored following the competition with the Dick Gordin Award as the NCAC's Most Valuable Player. He was the second straight Tiger to sweep the two awards, following on the heels of senior Craig Osterbrock's (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) dominant performance in 2012.
Freshman Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) was next for the Tigers at Ohio Wesleyan with a two-round total of 153 to finish eighth. He was followed by junior David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) with a 155, good for 10th, and junior Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster) and sophomore Jared Wissinger (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), who posted matching 161s to finish 21st.
Overall, Geise finished sixth with a four-round score of 302, followed by Wetterich with a 306 to place eighth. Head Coach Jeff Roope was saluted for his leadership with NCAC Coach of the Year for the fourth year in a row.