John Chaney Earns National Academic Award
Senior is named an NCAA Division III All-America Scholar for second straight year by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Springfield, Ohio – For the second straight year, Wittenberg University men’s golf standout John Chaney (Gates Mills, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) has earned recognition from Cleveland Golf/Srixon and the Golf Coaches Association of America as an NCAA Division III All-America Scholar.
Chaney is among 34 NCAA Division III student-athletes to earn All-America Scholar honors in 2015. To be nominated, a player must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least three full years at the collegiate level, participate in at least 50 percent of his team’s competitive rounds, maintain a stroke average of 79.0 or lower and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.2.
"I am proud of the outstanding work all of our men’s golf student-athletes during the 2014-15 school year, both on and off the course," said Head Coach Jeff Roope. "In particular, I’m proud of John’s achievements. He excelled on the course that ended with All-America honors, he was a leader in numerous extracurricular activities, and he did a tremendous job in the classroom as well. That is the total package for a student-athlete."
After finishing seventh in the NCAA Division III Tournament, Chaney topped the team and ranked among the top 20 in NCAA Division III in scoring average at 73.36. Chaney won two tournaments and recorded seven top-five finishes in 12 tournaments in the 2014-15 season, and he earned first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honors each of the last two years. He capped his conference career in style with the 2015 Bob Nye Award after taking first place in the NCAC Championship Series.
The Tigers won their sixth straight NCAC Championship Series in 2015 to earn a sixth consecutive berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Wittenberg finished a program-best third in the 2015 NCAA Division III Tournament in its 21st appearance in the national competition, in addition to a berth in the 1974 NCAA College Division Tournament. Chaney led the way individually with a seventh-place finish.
Wittenberg finished first in seven of its 11 tournaments in the 2014-15 regular season, including wins in four straight competitions to close the campaign. The last two tournament victories combined to give the Tigers the NCAC Championship Series title by 24 strokes over runner-up Kenyon.
Written By: Ryan Maurer