Guilford Finishes Seventh At NCAA Championships

Fisher, Ind. (5/18/07) - St. John's University (Minn.) shot a four-round total of 1,204 to clinch its first NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship Friday at the Hawthorns Golf and Country Club.

Guilford College shared seventh place in the 35-team field after shooting a final-round 312 and finishing at 1244. The Quakers have placed among the top-seven teams at the last three national championships and have seven top-eight finishes in 16 NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.

St. John's was consistent throughout the four rounds, shooting between 300 and 303 each day, including 303 on the final day. They shot 300 on the first two days and added a 301 on Thursday to take an 11-shot lead into the final round.

St. John's No. 1 player, Clinton Dammann, ran away with the individual title, firing a four-day total of 287 (1 under par). He won the individual title by eight shots and fired three rounds of par (72) and a 1-under 71 in Wednesday's second round. Dammann was named the Arnold Palmer Award winner presented by Callaway Golf, as the tournament medalist.

"'It's amazing,'' Dammann said of the championship. ''The individual title is a bonus and it could have been any one of us. The team one is the most important. We had a cushion, but you have to win each day and we had to play our game. I played the best golf I've played all week coming down the back nine.'' 

St. John's head coach Bob Alpers was named the Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year. Nebraska Wesleyan's Nate Jaeger won the Phil Mickelson Award as the top freshman in the tournament. Jaeger finished 52nd individually with a four-round total of 315.

La Verne (305-311-301-299 1,216) finished second to St. John's by 12 shots, after shooting 299 on the final day. Ohio Wesleyan (302-309-307-299 1,217), Huntingdon (307-314-309-297 1,227) and Oglethorpe (303-319-306-307 1,235) rounded out the top five. Huntingdon shot the Friday's low round with a 297 followed by Ohio Wesleyan and La Verne at 299.

The rest of the top 10 includes Rhodes (299-316-323-303 1,241), Texas Lutheran (311-322-308-303 1,244), Guilford (307-311-314-312 1,244), Wisconsin Eau-Claire (319-311-305-310 1,245), Carthage (311-315-317-304 1,247) and defending champion Nebraska Wesleyan (312-314-310-311 1,247).

Andy Miller of Otterbein (74-74-72-75 295) and Jacob Collinsworth of Huntingdon (74-73-75-73 295) tied for second place individually. Miller won the Jack Nicklaus Award presented by Dillards Inc./Hartmarx Corp., which is given annually to the 2007 Player of the Year.

Other top-10 individuals included Jeff Nieman of Ohio Wesleyan (72-80-71-73 296), Taylor Urbanski of Oglethorpe (75-76-73-76 300), Rode McElreath of McMurry (69-78-79-75 301), Andrew Longbella of St. John's (74-73-79-76 302), Rizal Amin of La Verne (75-79-73-75 302), Aaron Stockton of Nebraska Wesleyan (74-77-75-76 302) and Andy Schillig of Ohio Wesleyan (76-77-77-73 303).

Guilford senior Joseph Poplin shared 36th among the 180 individuals, tops among Guilford students.  Sophomore Burton Wood turned in the Quakers' low round Friday (75) and shared 43rd place overall with a four-day 314.  Freshman Peter Latimer shot a fourth-round 81 and finished in a tie for 52nd place at 315. Senior Colin Clark, the 2005 NCAA champion, had his best round of the week with a 77 and placed 74th at 319. He shared the position with rookie teammate Brian Creghan. Creghan carded an 81 Friday.

The PING All-American Team was named at the conclusion of the tournament. First team members include Miller, Amin, Collinsworth, Dammann, Longbella, Nieman, Urbanski, McElreath, Stockton, Stephen Goodridge of Rochester , Nathaniel James of Washington and Lee and Poplin. Poplin, a second-team honoree last year, becomes the 14th two-time All-American in school history.
 
Second team All-America honorees include Schillig, Chris Davis of La Verne, Justin Palmer of Rhodes, Bradley Sutherland of Transylvania, Jonathan Swisher of Texas Lutheran, Jordan Talah of La Verne, Joel Winters of Central, Tyler Wollberg of Carthage and Tommy Yamaoka of Hope.

The 2007 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship was hosted by Anderson University and the Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

- courtesy Anderson Sports Information