Golf team finishes 9th at Nationals
CHARLES KURTH
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: Sports
While most of us were celebrating the return of summer by putting everything school-related away for a few months the MATC golf team was focusing on the pinnacle of their season, the , NJCAA Division III National Championship at Chautauqua Golf Course in Chautauqua, NY on June 3-6. When all was said and done the WolfPack finished a respectable ninth in the nation, the sixth time in program history in which the team finished in the top ten in the country.
The WolfPack began the tourney in eighth place after the first round of play with an overall score of 320, paced by second year golfer Josh Pantel's respectable 76. The team would move up to seventh place over the course of the next couple of days, but that was as close as they would get before shooting a 322 in the final round to drop to ninth overall in the four day tournament. Josh Pantel fared the best individually in the tournament for the WolfPack as he finished with a four day total of 310, good enough for a twenty-fifth place finish overall.
Of course in order to qualify for the National Tournament, the team had to play some impressive golf en route to New York via the NJCAA Region XIII tournament, held in the fall semester of last year. In Brainard, MN, MATC overcame a 10-stroke first round deficit to finish just five strokes behind the Regional champion Central Lakes College. The second place finish was all the team needed in order to secure a birth in the advance to the National Tournament.
Soon after coming home from Minnesota, the WolfPack had to finish business for the fall semester with the WJCAA State Tournament which was held on October 7-8 right here at The Bridges Golf Course. After putting themselves in a hole after the first round and facing an eight-stroke deficit, the WolfPack tore up the course in the second round with a team-total of 309, good enough for a six stroke win over the first day leader UW-Waukesha. The state title was the seventh in a row for MATC, showing not only their dominance over state opponents, but the overall level of excellence of eight-year head coach Jim Thomas' program.
The WolfPack began the tourney in eighth place after the first round of play with an overall score of 320, paced by second year golfer Josh Pantel's respectable 76. The team would move up to seventh place over the course of the next couple of days, but that was as close as they would get before shooting a 322 in the final round to drop to ninth overall in the four day tournament. Josh Pantel fared the best individually in the tournament for the WolfPack as he finished with a four day total of 310, good enough for a twenty-fifth place finish overall.
Of course in order to qualify for the National Tournament, the team had to play some impressive golf en route to New York via the NJCAA Region XIII tournament, held in the fall semester of last year. In Brainard, MN, MATC overcame a 10-stroke first round deficit to finish just five strokes behind the Regional champion Central Lakes College. The second place finish was all the team needed in order to secure a birth in the advance to the National Tournament.
Soon after coming home from Minnesota, the WolfPack had to finish business for the fall semester with the WJCAA State Tournament which was held on October 7-8 right here at The Bridges Golf Course. After putting themselves in a hole after the first round and facing an eight-stroke deficit, the WolfPack tore up the course in the second round with a team-total of 309, good enough for a six stroke win over the first day leader UW-Waukesha. The state title was the seventh in a row for MATC, showing not only their dominance over state opponents, but the overall level of excellence of eight-year head coach Jim Thomas' program.
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