March 4, 2005

The University of Northern Colorado men's golf team begins its second year of Division I play in 2004-05 and second year under legendary collegiate golf coach Wally Goodwin. Goodwin, the former coach at Stanford where he won the 1994 National Coach of the Year award after leading his team to a national title, will once again have a young team that features eight underclassmen on its roster of 13.

Last year, Goodwin's team had seven freshmen or sophomores among its total of 10 players, and that squad earned a pair of top-five finishes and claimed the championship at its own event, the UNC Invitational, for the third consecutive season. This year, nine of those 10 golfers return.

"We are definitely a young team," said Goodwin. "Since we are not yet eligible for the NCAA postseason play, these next few years will be spent having the young members of our team grow together and become better golfers so we will be ready to compete in 2007-08 when we are eligible for the postseason.

"A lot of our athletes played in summer golf tournaments, are a year older and now know what to expect when they go out and play in tournaments," Goodwin added. "I think we are dramatically improved from last year. We have put together some terrific scoring rounds and a few bad rounds, but I expect that to happen. Those bad rounds have definitely not been demoralizing to myself or our players."

While the Bears are young, the upperclassmen they do have will be key in the team's success this year. Senior captain Chris Ellis is a big part of that maturation process for the younger players.

"Chris is a really tough player who never gives an inch to the golf course," Goodwin said. "He is always right in there to the very end. He is a great leader and is very demanding of his teammates. Out of junior college, he could have gone anywhere, but he really wanted this program to get going in the right direction and that is why he decided to attend Northern Colorado."

Ellis, who was a second-team Division I All-Independent selection in 2003-04, averaged 74.8 strokes per round in his first-year with the team last year after transferring from Gavilan Community College. During the fall season, he lowered that average to 73.9 per round, was the team's top finisher in all five events and had a pair of top-10 finishes, including placing fourth at the Nebraska Fairway Club Invitational to open the fall season. More impressively, he was 21st overall at The Nelson, where he fired an opening-round 69, his low round of the fall.

The only other senior on the roster is Jared Hungenberg, who is in his second year with the program after transferring from Colorado Christian. Hungenberg played in four events as a junior and was 27th at the Northern Colorado Invite this fall.

Junior Dustin Mills was an All-Independent selection a year ago.

The junior class is three strong, with Tim Knight, Dustin Mills and Mike Martin all providing upperclassman leadership. Knight sat out last year after transferring from Napa Valley College, where he captained the team that won the California Community College Championship in 2003. Knight placed 12th overall at that event. During the fall, he had the second-lowest scoring average on the team (75.1) and was third at the Northern Colorado Invitational.

Mills was a second-team Division I All-Independent selection last year, averaging 75.2 strokes per round after transferring from Cal State-Northridge. Over the summer, he competed in tournaments all across the country and captured the crown at the 2004 Southwestern Amateur Championship held in Albuquerque.

Martin, in his third year with the Bears, has been with the program longer than any other current team member. He led the team in scoring average (77.8) his freshman year and placed 16th at the NCAA Division II Regional and was third in average (75.8) as a sophomore. During the fall, he played in 12 rounds and averaged 76.3 strokes per round.

"The main strength of our team this year is our upperclassmen," Goodwin said. "A lot really rests on the shoulders of guys like Chris Ellis, Dustin Mills and Tim Knight. They are older guys who are more experienced and who have been through the tough tournaments. We will need them to be at their best for our team to be successful."

The sophomore class includes a quartet of players who gained a year of experience at the collegiate level in 2003-04. Eric Higgins, Nick Marino, Jon Stecher and Kyle Sullivan all played in at least four events as freshmen. Higgins was the team's top finisher twice last season and placed 27th overall at The Prestige tournament at the PGA West course in November. Stecher and Sullivan also competed at The Prestige, where they went up against some of the nation's top golfers. Marino had his best showing at the Northern Colorado Invitational, finishing 10th overall.

"With our younger players, we have some athletes who have some quality previous tournament experiences like Jon and Eric," Goodwin said. "They are already good enough to play Division I golf, they just need the right type of leadership to enable to mature and become really good players for us."

Four freshmen are part of the Bears roster this season, as Colorado natives Jim Brown, Tom Gempel and Ryan Husted join Iowa native Doug Sutter as the newest additions to the UNC golf family. All had successful prep careers as Brown was a two-time state qualifier, Gempel was the state runner-up his junior year and the regional champion his senior year, Husted won the 5A state championship his senior year and Sutter was a three-time team MVP.

"Our freshmen are all capable in certain areas but nobody has the overall game yet," said Goodwin.

Those players are going to experience collegiate golf with a very impressive team schedule this year, one that saw the team already play in The Nelson and The Prestige in the fall, two of the top tournaments in the country. This spring they will play in five tournament including the PING Classic hosted by BYU, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Men's Intercollegiate, the Wyoming Cowboy Classic and Denver's Pioneer Classic.

"A big part of the transition is putting together a quality schedule so potential student-athletes can see where and who we are playing, and I think we have been able to do that this year," Goodwin said. "With the help of some of my coaching friends, we scheduled the best of the best. We were up to our waist in tough competition in the fall but we all survived, and I think everyone has benefited from playing in those events."

Goodwin is optimistic his young team will perform to its highest possibilities this spring.

"We are far better at this point than I ever imagined we would be when I took this job," said Goodwin. "This group of guys is not selfish and generally more team-oriented than any squad that I have coached. They are friends off the course and they have one goal - to produce quality rounds of golf.

"Our main goal for the spring is for every event that we play as well as we can play in each round and learn from it. As long as we learn from what we produce on the course, no matter what we shoot, it is always a positive experience."