Monmouth’s men’s golf team fell 13 strokes shy of making the cut at the 2007 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, which saw the Scots play their first and second rounds in Fishers and Carmel, Ind., respectively.

Dave Ragone’s squad tallied a 36-hole total of 655 strokes to finish 28 th in the 35-team field. Monmouth opened the tourney with a score of 332 at Hawthorns Golf & Country Club on Tuesday (May 15), before cutting nine strokes (323) on Wednesday (May 16) at the Prairie View Golf Club. Senior Nick Harwick paced Monmouth with a 36-hole total of 162. He was tied for 92nd individually after two days of competition.

The event marked the first NCAA tourney appearance by Monmouth and the first national tournament appearance by a Midwest Conference school. The Scots earned the league’s inaugural automatic NCAA Tournament qualifier by claiming the MWC Championship on May 5 at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Ill.

Monmouth's men’s golf team will be one of 35 squads descending upon Indiana for the 2007 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament on Tuesday-Friday, May 15-18. The 72-hole event will be held at Hawthorns Golf & Country Club and Prairie View Golf Club, in Fishers and Carmel, Ind., respectively.

Monmouth earned the Midwest Conference’s inaugural automatic berth to the NCAA tourney when Dave Ragone’s (right) Fighting Scots recorded a 54-hole total of 934 strokes to win the 2007 MWC Championship on May 5 at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Ill.

The Scots open the NCAA tourney at Hawthorns Golf & Country Club, where they will tee off at 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 15.

Led by 2007 Midwest Conference Individual Champion Doug Middendorf, Monmouth claimed the 2007 MWC Men’s Golf team title on Sunday, May 5, leading the three-day event pillar to post at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Ill. Monmouth receives the conference’s inaugural automatic berth to the NCAA National Championship Tournament. The title was Monmouth’s tenth overall, their first since 2004 and third in seven seasons under head coach Dave Ragone.

The Scots tallied a three-day total of 934 in the 54-hole event, topping runner-up and defending champ Knox by 19 strokes. Middendorf posted scores of 74, 78 and 75 (227) to win individual honors and was joined by top 10 teammates Justin Martin, Nick Thiel and Nick Harwick. Knox’s David Marquardt topped Grinnell’s Pete Kieselbach in a one-hole playoff to finish second individually after both carded three-day totals of 231. St. Norbert’s Gabe Dahl outlasted Thiel for sixth-place, as the two needed a modern-day conference record five playoff holes to reach a decision.

NCAA Championship brackets will be released on Monday, May 7.

Knox returned to the pinnacle of Midwest Conference men’s golf in 2006, besting Monmouth by 13 strokes to end a two-year title drought and claim their league-best 28th overall title. Three different teams have been crowned MWC champions in the past three years and the 2007 field looks to have several contenders once again. Nine conference teams will descend upon Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Ill., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday May 3-5 to contest the 54-hole event. The Aldeen Golf Club blue tee course is an 18-hole, par 72 layout that measures 6,471 yards. The course rates as a 71.2 and features a slope of 121. Knox senior Ryan Meier (right) will be looking to enter an elite club this weekend. Meier, who won MWC individual honors as a freshman and sophomore, can become the third-ever three-time individual champion in league history.

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Grinnell Director of Athletics Dee Fairchild has announced that Brian Jaworski, the Pioneers head men’s soccer coach, will take over as head men’s golf coach this spring.  Jaworski takes over for Greg Wallace who has guided the Pioneers since 1992.  Wallace will focus more of his spring time to associate athletic director duties.

Since his arrival on campus in 2004, Jaworski has spent his spring time serving as an assistant track and field coach for the Pioneers.

For the past six years, Andrews has been the head girls golf coach at Waukesha high school. In that time, he has led the program to two Classic 8 Conference Championships and two runner-up finishes. His 2005 squad qualified for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Championship and finished in third place.

In addition to coaching, Andrews is also the head golf professional at Merrill Hills Country Club, a position he has held since 1989. Prior to arriving at Merrill Hills , he was the head professional at Bulls Eye Country Club in Wisconsin Rapids , Wis. He is a class A-1 member of the Professional Golf Association and member of the Wisconsin High School Golf Coaches Association.

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