Chargers Win First Conference Title in Men’s Golf History
Three Chargers played their best rounds of the season on Friday at Montcalm’s Glen Kerry Golf Course, leading the team to the first Conference Championship in school history. MUAC tied Montcalm for 1st place (losing the tiebreaker on the 5th score), closing out the conference part of the Spring Season with wins in 4 of the 5 conference events, and a 2nd place in the other, securing the conference regular season title. Hunter Zdyb (-1 under), Juan Pablo Benevente (E, even), and Jace Lugar (+2 over) put up their best scoring rounds of the spring season. Leading into the last event, MUAC led GRCC by 4 strokes, so every stroke mattered in this one. When asked about the round, Coach Andrew Dreibelbis stated: “This was probably the most nerve-wracking event of our spring season, we knew that every single shot was going to matter today. I knew we had three guys playing really well and two that were struggling to finish the round strong.” He later added, “Pushing through adversity all the way to the end was the theme of the day, and trying to convince the struggling players to stay in the moment and erase mistakes from earlier in the round was ultimately what led us to victory.”
Both Hunter Zdyb and Juan Pablo Benavente made the All-MCCAA Western Conference team, with Juan also earning All-Freshman Team honors. Hunter, last year’s MCCAA Golfer of the Year, capped his conference career by just missing out on player of the year honors this year by 2 strokes, with Juan another 3 strokes behind him. Freshman Jace Lugar missed out on both All-Team honors by just a single stroke. Veteran team members James Sanders and Jeff Cook had an up-and-down Spring season. Still, they will be heavily counted on in Conference Tournament, Regional Tournament, and National Tournament play over the next few weeks.
Summing up the Spring season, Dreibelbis went on to say, “Our goal was to ‘Sweep the Spring’ and we came close with four 1st place finishes and two 2nd place finishes in six Spring competitions, but the job’s not done yet.” MUAC’s Chargers will be on the hunt for the school’s first Conference Tournament crown on Monday, as Swan Lake hosts the 14-team & 75-player MCCAA Conference Tournament. Monday’s Tournament will be a one-day, 36-hole event. After that, the Chargers head to Bedford Valley for a 2-day, 54-hole event that includes 36 holes on Day One and an additional 18 holes on Day Two. If the Chargers are able to advance, they would return to their home course, Swan Lake to participate in a four-day, four-round National Tournament for the NJCAA DII Championship.
