Wittenberg Honors Legendary Coaches With Dominating Performance In Home Tournament

Craig Osterbrock

(Medalist)

Jordan Millice  (T-2nd)

Jack Uecker    (T-2nd)

Bradley Shepherd (4th place)

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Records continued to fall for the Wittenberg men's golf team Sunday as the 14th-ranked Tigers demolished the competition in the newly-renamed Rosecrans Maurer Invitational.

The Tigers surely made the tournament's namesakes proud as they posted a blistering two-round total of 572 despite challenging weather conditions. On the opening day, Wittenberg shot a 290 to take 10-stroke lead despite temperatures that never made it out of the mid-40s, with swirling winds and at least one hour of cold, steady drizzle. On Sunday, the Tigers set a school record with a round of two-under-par 282 in much-improved conditions that included temperatures in the 50s and a brisk wind.

The Rosencrans Maurer Invitational was named in honor of Bob Rosencrans and Dave Maurer, both of whom have passed in the last decade after making a difference in thousands of Wittenberg students' lives. Both coaches a variety of sports, including men's golf, while also teaching physical education classes and serving as administrators from the 1950s to the 1990s. Both led the Tigers to multiple NCAA Division III Tournaments during their golf coaching careers.

For the third year in a row, Wittenberg finished at the top of the leaderboard at its own fall invitational, but neither of the previous two victories had been this convincing. The Tigers' nearest competitor in the 20-team field was Wittenberg's B team, which posted a 591. Rhodes College was given the runner-up trophy after finishing 27 strokes behind Wittenberg at 599 and DePauw followed at 605.

The Tigers' 572 was just five strokes off the school record set in the opening tournament of the 2011-12 season at Denison. The previous two-round school record was 285.

Junior Craig Osterbrock (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington)earned medalist honors with his two-round total of 139, the fourth-best individual round in program history. He carded rounds of even-par 71 on Saturday and three-under 68 on Sunday, the third-best single round in program history.

He led a quartet of Tigers in the top four spots of the 101-player field. Senior Jordan Millice (Cable, Ohio/Triad) and sophomore Jack Uecker (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) carded matching 143s, good for a tie for
second place, and junior Bradley Shepherd (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) added a 145 to place fourth while playing for the B team. Dennis Finneran of Walsh, Blake Sword of Wooster, Ty Frost of DePauw and Mike Witmer of John Carroll tied for fifth place, and all four players will be recognized with all-tournament team honors.

The Tiger excellence didn't stop there, however. Two more Wittenberg players finished in a four-way tie for ninth place as freshman Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) of the A team and sophomore Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster) of the B team posted matching 147s. All 10 players representing the Tiger A and B teams finishing among the top 29 golfers in the tournament, and all 12 Wittenberg golfers in the field overall finished in the top 55.

The stellar play up and down Wittenberg's line-up promises to make Head Coach Jeff Roope's decision on a starting five for next week's Golfweek NCAA Division III Fall Invitational very challenging. The Rosencrans Maurer Invitational title was the Tigers' third in four starts so far in 2011-12, heading into the final competition of the fall season.