Golf begins spring season Saturday at Bethel Invite
SEWARD, Neb. – Head coach Brett Muller’s men’s golf squad resumes the 2013-14 season this weekend at the Bethel College Invite. The meet will play out over two days with Saturday’s round taking place at Hesston Golf Park in Hesston, Kan., before action shifts to Sand Creek Station in Newton, Kan., on Sunday. Shotgun starts both days will see the Bulldogs begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.
The women’s team will open the spring season on Tuesday, April 8 at the Midland Invite held at the Fremont Golf Club.
Following two fall GPAC qualifiers, the Concordia men rest in ninth place (317-345–662) while the women are fifth (366-374–740). The men are 11 strokes better than they were this time a year ago. The women have made a 67-stroke improvement over their standing at the end of the 2012 fall season.
Junior Shawn Rodehorst, who battled a nagging hip injury in the fall, led the Concordia men with a fall average of 79.38 in eight rounds. The native of Kearney, Neb., is more than capable of lowering his average. As a sophomore Rodehorst broke the school record with a mean score of 75.15. The 2012-13 all-conference performer currently sits 27th in the GPAC (78-86–164) after two qualifiers.
Freshman Jared Knoepfel put together a solid fall season and is the highest rated Bulldog in the GPAC standings. Knoepfel carries a GPAC qualifier score of 83-78–161 (tied for 15th) into the spring. Knoepfel averaged 82.63 over eight fall rounds.
Muller’s men’s squad lost freshman Josh Hinrichs (79.75) who left at semester, but Concordia has a deep team equipped to handle the departure. Freshman Court Croghan (84.25, four rounds), sophomore Brock Colclasure (84.63, six rounds), junior Sam Mayhall (85.0, six rounds), senior Sam DeFreece (85.60, five rounds), sophomore Sam Simonson (86.0, eight rounds) and sophomore Garrett Suchanek (86.14, seven rounds) give Muller plenty of options when filling out his varsity lineup.
The Bulldog women have received a huge boost this season from the dynamic freshman duo of Amy Ahlers (85.29, seven rounds) and Kayla Krueger (90.86, seven rounds). Ahlers, a native of Albion, Neb., stands a great shot to earn all-conference honors. She enters the fall in a tie for eighth place on the GPAC leaderboard after shooting 89-80–169 at the first two qualifiers.
Krueger is within striking distance of a top 10 GPAC placement required for all-conference recognition. The Aberdeen, S.D., native is in 17th place with her 92-84–176. Her 84 at GPAC Qualifier No. 2 stands as her season best.
The rest of the varsity lineup will be made up of a combination of juniors Melissa McIntosh (97.29, seven rounds), Allison Schieffer (106.57, seven rounds) and Jenelle Hallaert (119.0, two rounds) and sophomore Kristen Remm (102.60, five rounds).
In preparation for the spring, the Bulldogs have practiced on their new home turf – Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln. For more information on the course, click HERE.
To view the schedule for the spring golf season, click HERE.
