March 21, 2006

As the Northern Colorado men's golf team continues its reclassification to Division I, the program has made tremendous strides each year as they continue to improve both individually and as a team. That improvement has come from recruiting some of the top student-athletes the program has ever had and playing a schedule that features some of the top tournaments in the nation. Those factors helped the Bears finish with a top-100 national ranking last season (No. 93) after starting the 2004-05 season ranked last nationally (No. 286).

"It has been a thrill to have many of my former coaching buddies offer us invitations to their tournaments," said head coach Wally Goodwin, the 1994 National Coach of the Year when he was at Stanford University. "The results of playing against some of the best teams in the country are that in our first two and a half years of the reclassification process, we have helped promote ourselves on the national level with a top-100 ranking.

"It has also given our players an idea of what Division I golf is all about and what they have to do to perform at this level."

That schedule this year featured a trip to the Louisville Cardinal Intercollegiate and The Prestige at PGA West in the fall and a trip to the U.S. Intercollegiate hosted by Stanford in the spring. The Bears had an excellent showing at The Prestige, finishing ninth out of 18 teams at the event, held at one of the best courses in the United States.

This spring the team will cap its season by hosting the first annual Division I Independent Championships, an event that will be held at Pelican Lakes Golf & County Club in Windsor. The field includes Francis Marion, North Dakota State, Sacramento State, South Dakota State, Texas-Pan American, Utah Valley State and Weber State. Two of the teams in the field, Sacramento State and Weber State, are also members of the Big Sky Conference, a conference Northern Colorado will join the 2006-07, but one that does not sponsor men's golf as a championship sport.

"The championship that we will host in April will be just another tournament for us in terms of national ranking," Goodwin said. "The first tournament we competed in back in September counts almost the same as this one does. But being able to host the independent championships on our course gives our teams something extra special to shoot for. We will use it, like we do every tournament, as a measuring stick for us in our reclassification process."

This season's team has a good mix of upperclassmen and newcomers, with two seniors and three juniors dotting the roster.

"This year we are deeper with talented players than we were last year, and last year we were certainly successful," Goodwin said. "Our fall results this season were a real tribute to the attitude of our present players have about doing something great for the Northern Colorado program."

The talent begins with senior captain Tim Knight. After transferring from Napa Valley College, Knight was a second-team Division I All-Independent selection in 2004-05, when he was second on the squad in scoring average (74.0) behind departed senior Chris Ellis. As a junior he had a pair of top-10 finishes and this past fall he took medalist honors at the New Mexico State Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate and led the team with a 72.7 stroke average.

Junior Jon Stecher was second on the team in stroke average in the fall.

"Tim is our captain and he has made himself into an outstanding Division I player," Goodwin said. "He has done a fine job as captain and held his own in the business school, which is a tough combination to pull off. We will leave his mark here as one of the outstanding players we have ever had."

The other senior on the roster is Mike Martin, who is in his fourth year with the program, and the only golfer to have played when the Bears competed at the Division II level. He was fourth on the team in stroke average (76.3) as a junior.

The junior class includes Eric Higgins, Jon Stecher and Kyle Sullivan, each of whom have been solid contributors for the team the last two years. After struggling at times as a sophomore, Sullivan made the most of his chances in the fall, finishing third on the team in stroke average. Higgins played in eight events as a sophomore and lowered his per round average by over a stroke during the fall season.

Stecher has improved each of his years at Northern Colorado including having a tremendous fall season where he was second on the team in average (73.6) behind Knight, cutting three strokes off his per round average from his sophomore season. The highlight of the fall season was his performance at The Prestige, where he placed 10th, just three strokes behind the individual medalist at what is one of the premier tournaments in the country.

"Eric is another solid player for us who has a year and a half left and who I think will be terrific when he gets to his senior season," Goodwin added. "Jon has achieved a level of serenity in golf that all the top players need to get to. It has been really fun to see what two and a half years of tough competition has done for his game. That and the desire he has for golf has been a combination that has made him a very good player as well as being a very good team guy."

Freshman Jordan Ensrud was a three-time all-state selection in high school.

The Bears sophomore class includes Kyle Burns, Tom Gempel, Ryan Husted, Doug Sutter and transfer Eric Doyle. Gempel has been the one in that class who has seen the most action, playing in five events as a freshman and three during the fall. Doyle, a transfer from South Mountain Community College, played in three events during the fall after joining the Bears team.

"Tom as really come on as a college player," Goodwin said. "He gets better all the time and is a real team player."

Although the freshman class is not deep, it numbers just two, its talent level is a sign of things to come for the Bears. Playing against some of the top teams in the country and garnering some national attention, along with having Tiger Woods former college coach to head the program, has helped draw recruits to Greeley.

This year's freshmen, Jordan Ensrud and local product Derek Hofmeister, both bring excellent credentials with them. Ensrud, who competed in three events in the fall, was a three-time all-state selection in Minnesota, while Hofmeister, who attended Greeley Central High, was the Weld County Golfer of the Year as a senior.

"Our newcomers have helped us improve as a team in adding to our depth," Goodwin said. "As we continue to recruit better student-athletes we will continue to get better as a team. We are excited about what the next few recruiting classes can bring to us, as we believe the players we will be able to get will help the team take it to another level."

Goodwin, who is obviously no stranger to success, thinks that the day when a Northern Colorado player advances to the NCAA Championships is not far off. The Bears will officially be eligible beginning in 2007-08.

"Our players know that the competition we are facing now and will be facing in the future is the best and they know what it takes to get to the level we need to be at to compete in the NCAA's," Goodwin added. "Realistically we need to get a couple of shots a day better per player for 2007-08 to have the opportunity to advance to postseason play. I think that is a great goal for us and I hope we are knocking on the door of that in a few years."