March 14, 2008

It's been awhile, but Northern Colorado's men's golf team is about ready to get back on the links.

The Bears' will travel next week to Little Rock, Ark., for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's First Tee Collegiate tournament Monday and Tuesday, March 17 and 18. It will be Northern Colorado's first competition since it finished 14th in its final fall-season event at the Pacific Invitational in early November in Stockton, Calif.

Next week's competition will also be the first for the Bears since the hiring of new men's golf coach Chuck Scheinost, whose hiring was announced Dec. 19, 2007. Scheinost joined the Bears after serving as assistant coach for two years at Northern Illinois. Prior to Northern Illinois, Scheinost was an assistant coach at Lenoir-Rhyne College and spent 2001-03 as a volunteer head coach for the Northern Colorado Junior Golf Tour at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins, Colo.

Scheinost took over for longtime collegiate golf coach Wally Goodwin, who will remain with the Bears in a Coach Emeritus role.

Scheinost's first Northern Colorado squad enters the spring season with a varied complement of players. Two freshmen -- Alberto Dell'Anna (Platja d'Aro, Spain) and Stephen Bidne (St. Paul, Minn.) -- are expected to contribute, as is sophomore Ryan Boshoven (Castle Rock, Colo.). The Bears' upperclassmen -- Josh Berrelez (Greeley, Colo.), Derek Hofmeister (Greeley, Colo.), Richard Lash (Dillion, Colo.) and Kyle Burns (Colorado Springs) -- will look to continue on the strong start they got in the fall season.

Of the returning players, Bidne finished highest at the Pacific Invitational, tying for 46th with a 218 (75-71-72) three-day total. He also sank a hole in one during the event. Burns (72-77-79) and Hofmeister (84-75-81) finished 65th and 70th, respectively.

Northern Colorado will follow the Little Rock tournament by traveling to Eugene, Ore., for the Oregon Duck Classic on March 24 and 25, before heading to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Cowboy Classic on April 7 and 8.

The Bears will finish their spring season with the U.S. Intercollegiate tournament in Stanford, Calif., on April 19 and 20.