Men's Golf Begins Spring Session

The Messiah Golf team has begun their season following a very successful fall campaign in which they maintained an overall win record of 80-15. In the fall the team played in six Division III tournaments, winning two and finishing well in the others; in the tournaments that they did not win, they finished no lower than third place.Maintaining an eight-member roster, the Falcons' golf team consists of seniors Ben Horst, Corey Wenger, Jamie Yoder, and Mike Walker, junior Dan Wort, sophomore Josh Winn, and freshmen Matt Burkhart and M'Cheyne Farlling. This season's Co-Captains are Wort and Wenger, and the upperclassmen are focused on leading their teammates both on and off the course, always exemplifying the team verse, Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Their first tournament win came at the Bent Creek Invitational on October 5, where the team shot a combined score of 303. This score was sixteen strokes better than the team that finished second in the tournament, Franklin and Marshall University. The team also participated in one Division I tournament during the fall: the Bucknell Invitational, on September 19. The Falcons finished eleventh out of fourteen. Another fall highlight was the season finale--the most impressive performance of the season. The team shot a 300, which was 31 strokes better than Albright College, who finished second in the tournament. The team's top four finishers were Dan Wort, Corey Wenger, Matt Burkhart, and Ben Hurst. They were also the top finishers in the entire tournament.

The fall season prepared this team well for the spring season. Coach Troy Boone says, "Our goal was to have a strong fall season as a building block for the spring." He continued, saying, "It will all be on the line in the spring as we will have to win the MAC Championship at Hershey to get an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament."

Boone is an independent businessman who began coaching the team five years ago. Wort compliments the coach on his ability to create structure within the program, and credits him with working to provide facilities for the team to practice on--namely the new simulator and time and space at the Blue Ridge Country Club.

"He wants us to be men of God first, golfers second," Wort says, and further explains that Coach Boone wants his players to focus on the relationships they will build during their time at Messiah College, because those connections will last far longer than any athletic glory.

This past winter brought a brand-new facility for the team to practice on--a state of the art simulator. After extensive fundraising, the team welcomed a technological system that Wort believes "we are the only D-III school in the Northeast to have."

So far the spring season has fared well too. At the Gettysburg Spring Invitational on March 23 the team finished in fourth place with a score of 326. Senior Corey Wenger finished fifth individually. In their second tournament they played in the York College Spring Invitational on March 29, winning the tournament with a new school record of 282--besting the old record by an incredible seventeen strokes. The team was under par by two strokes, and Burkhart and Wort finished tied for first with a four under par score of 67, setting the school record for an individual score.

At the Lebanon Valley College competition on April 5, Messiah took third out of twenty teams, finishing behind only Albright College and Cabrini College. Burkhart took fifth place with a score of 77, and Wenger was part of a five-way tie for sixth place with a score of 78.

The Messiah Golf team has started the spring season very well and is looking forward to their goal of an NCAA Tournament burst.