“This has been my most rewarding victory in four years as head coach.”
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Dave Reinhardt knows how big of an accomplishment his team pulled off Tuesday.
Entering the final round of the 2024 Golfweek October Classic trailing Emory by eight shots, Washington-St. Louis had no margin for error if it wanted to come from behind and steal the team title at arguably the strongest event in all of Division III golf.
When the final putt dropped on the 18th hole at Sandestin Resort’s Links Course, Reinhardt told his player Sydney Kuo they had won, and she screamed in celebration and sprinted off the green to join her teammates, who were doing the same on the other side of the pond.
Washington-St. Louis was stellar in the final round, shooting 4 under to finish at 4-over 868 for the tournament, two shots ahead of Carnegie Mellon and nine in front of Emory, which shot 13 over Tuesday to fall to third. The 4-under 284 Washington St. Louis shot in the final round was the second-best team total of the week.
“I kept telling the girls, focus and play your game,” Reinhardt said. “We had a big refresh for this season. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“This has been my most rewarding victory in four years as head coach.”
Washington-St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon were the only teams to shoot under par on the Links Course in the final round, a new course for the women this year at the Golfweek October Classic.
The win was also significant for seventh-ranked Washington St. Louis, as the team topped the top two teams in the latest Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll in Carnegie Mellon and Emory. The field featured seven of the top 10 teams in the country.
“This is one of the top tournaments in all of fall golf, if not the entire season,” Reinhardt said. “To come here and win this, it’s something we can use and build on as we head into spring.”
Kuo finished solo second in the individual standings, four shots behind Emory’s Zimo Lee, the only player in the field to shoot three consecutive rounds under par, finishing at 6-under 210 for the event.
Carnegie Mellon’s Cecilia Jia placed solo third at even par, and Pomona-Pitzer’s Rachel LeMay and Carnegie Mellon’s Emma Wong tied for fourth at 1 over.
“They were going to win, they said that when they got here.”
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — When Washington & Lee’s men’s golf team arrived at Sandestin Resort’s Raven Course, the players called their shot.
“They were going to win, they said that when they got here,” Washington & Lee coach Pete Gyscek said.
And win they did.
Washington & Lee captured the team title at the 2024 Golfweek October Classic on Tuesday, holding off a charge from Sewanee to top a loaded field that included a majority of the top teams in Division III golf. Washington & Lee finished at 30-under 822 for the 54-hole tournament, which is believed to be a record.
“I am proud of them,” Gyscek said. “They came down, and they did not let up just one thing. They played every hole aggressively. They said they were going to do that, and they played really well.”
Six teams finished under par, with Sewanee coming in at 23 under to claim second. LeTourneau was third at 6 under while Methodist, the 2023 champion, and Lynchburg tied for fourth at 5 under. Oglethorpe was the other team to finish in the red at 3 under.
At the preview for NCAAs, Washington & Lee placed second and was making a late charge for the win. Then, the next tournament with an even stronger field, they led going into the final round but ended up in second.
That was motivation for this week, and it started with the team captains.
“We have only seven players on our team and two freshmen in the lineup, which is always something different,” Gyscek said. “I’ve got two seniors who are the best leaders in the country. It’s as simple as that. Leadership, and they help the young kids.”
One of those seniors, Jonathan McEwen, was a part of a three-way tie for medalist honors at 11-under 202. Joining him was freshman teammate Elias Malakoff and Carnegie Mellon’s Justin Chan.
Sewanee’s Colin Edwards was solo fourth at 9 under while LeTourneau’s Corbin Barton came in fifth at 8 under.
“We just set the 72-hole scoring record for the national championship in Division III … and we only won by one.”
The Monarchs have claimed another crown.
The winningest men’s golf program in NCAA Division III championship history, Methodist claimed its record 14th national title Friday at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada, firing a 72-hole D3 finals-record 21-under par to beat reigning champion Carnegie Mellon by a stroke.
“It’s tough to win,” coach Steve Conley told NCAA.com. “I mean, we just set the 72-hole scoring record for the national championship in Division III … and we only won by one.”
The previous 72-hole record was set by the Monarchs in 1998 at 9 under. That performance came during a run of six straight national titles, and nine in 10 years for Methodist. Starting with its first NCAA championship in 1990, the Monarchs added banners in 1991, ’92, ’94-’99, 2010, ’15, ’18, ’22 and ‘24.
All of those national championships were won under Conley, who started coaching at Methodist in 1988. Since then, Conley has been named D3 national coach of the year eight times. He’s a 17-time regional coach of the year, 25-time conference coach of the year, and in 2007 at 44 years old, he became the youngest coach ever inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Hall of Fame.
Along with 14 national titles, his program has produced 25 conference championships, nine D3 individual national champions and 58 All-Americans.
Senior Cooper Hrabak was the Monarchs’ low scorer in this year’s national finals. He shot 11-under par to finish a stroke behind medalist Michael O’Sullivan from Oglethorpe, closing his tourney and sealing the Monarchs’ win with a 25-foot birdie putt in a final round of 5 under.
Caleb Ryan tied for sixth at 6 under with two of the Monarchs’ nine eagles, Chase Walts tied for 17th at 2 under after carding a 66 with two eagles in Round 1, Aiden Spampinato tied for 24th at even par after a first-round 68 with a pair of eagles, and Cameron Cappuzzo tied for 71st at 10 over after shooting par in his last two rounds.
Biggest news in golf today: For the 14th time in school history, the Monarchs are National Champs! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/eadTkLFmgK
The Monarchs tallied 73 birdies in the national tournament, coming on the heels of their third straight USA South tournament title.
“These guys are like my brothers and I’m never going to forget this moment,” Cappuzzo, a senior, told NCAA.com after the championship. “It’s going to be tough to walk away from it but I’ll always have them with me.”
Capuzzo, Hrabak, Ryan and Walts were named to the GCAA All-America team, with Hrabak joining Monarchs Rob Pilewski, Chad Collins and Adam Horton as the program’s only four-year first-team honorees.
The NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Committee has announced the
teams and individuals who will partake in the 2024 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships.
The championships, which will be held May 14-17 at Boulder Creek Golf Club, in Boulder City, Nevada, will be hosted by UNLV and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The team and individual champions will be determined after 72 holes of play or the conclusion of the last fully completed round. Forty-three teams and six individuals not on one of those teams were selected to participate in the championships. After 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and the top six individuals not on one of those teams.
There are 221 total participants at the 2024 championships. Thirty-four conferences were awarded an automatic qualification for the championships. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that
do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final eight berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams. The six individuals are selected from the remaining players who have not qualified with a team. Listed below are the teams and individuals selected for the 2024 championships.
Carnegie Mellon is the defending national champion.
Here’s a look at the field for the 2024 D-III men’s golf national championship:
Automatic qualifiers
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference – Penn State-Altoona
American Rivers Conference – Luther
American Southwest Conference – LeTourneau
Atlantic East – Marymount (Virginia)
Centennial Conference – Franklin & Marshall College
Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin – Illinois Wesleyan
Commonwealth Coast Conference – Roger Williams
Empire 8 – St. John Fisher
Great Northeast Athletic Conference – New England College
Notre Dame’s season officially won’t begin for another week, but Irish fans got a taste of it Wednesday at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish dominated Hanover, a Division III school in the southeastern part of Indiana, in a 96-62 exhibition win. Hanover most likely didn’t expect to come out on top but surely was grateful for the opportunity to come to South Bend.
This was the first time fans saw the new-look Irish in action. Highly touted freshman and Mishawaka native [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] was the game’s high scorer with 18 points. Zionsville native [autotag]Logan Imes[/autotag] and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag], son of new Irish coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag], both had 14 points. [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] and [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag], two of the few incumbents on the roster, scored 12 apiece.
Don’t let this game fool you. The Irish very much are a work in progress, and the growing pains will be evident throughout the season. For now though, enjoy the photos from the winning exhibition:
Haley Van Voorhis is the latest woman to make history in college football.
College football has experienced its fair share of history-making moments this season. At Colorado, the Buffaloes sold out season tickets for the first time ever. And last week, Missouri’s Harrison Mevis booted the longest field goal in SEC history.
But in terms of real progress and historical significance in the sport, all those moments — while cool and awesome — pale in comparison to what a 5-foot-6 junior did for Division III Shenandoah University.
Meet Haley Van Voorhis, who on Saturday became the first woman — ever — to play in an NCAA college football game at a position other than kicker or punter.
The native of The Plains, Virginia, made her debut in the first quarter of the Hornets’ 48-7 win against Juanita College. She blitzed on a third down, notching a QB hurry and hit, doing her part to force an incomplete pass.
History is made: Shenandoah safety #10 Haley Van Voorhis becomes the first female non-kicker to appear in a college football game at the NCAA or NAIA levels for #D3FB@SUhornetsFB.
According to ESPN, Van Voorhis spent the last two seasons playing on Shenandoah’s JV team. She also participates on the Hornets’ track and field team, running sprints and relays. And according to her bio on the Shenandoah athletics’ website, she was also a two-time MVP of her high school basketball team at Christchurch School.
Van Voorhis is the latest to notch a first for women in college football. Back in 2020, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller became the first women to score points in a Power Five football. And we’ve seen other women play as kickers and punters at the college level. But at safety? The position that Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed played? That’s new. And fantastic.
In 2014, Shelby Osborne became the first woman to make a college football roster as a non-kicker at NAIA Campbellsville, but she never played in a game.
Women playing football is likely something we’ll see more of in the future. In 2018, according a study by the National Football League, 2,404 girls played high school tackle football, compared with just about 500 girls playing in 2008. For the folks doing math at home, that’s a five-fold increase in a decade. Young women are playing football across the country. In 2021, Chapel Hill’s Brooklyn Harker suited up at safety for her high school team, becoming the first to do so at that program.
Dan Lanning says former Division III quarterback Matt Rush can help the Ducks as an experienced walk-on this season.
Walk-on quarterbacks are normally little more than an afterthought in college football. Only if there’s a dire situation going on do they ever end up seeing the field. In a more likely scenario, they play the role of the opposing quarterback for that week in practice to help prepare the defense for what is waiting for them on Saturday.
For new quarterback Matt Rush, though, there is some experience that he brings to the table. While his role hasn’t quite been defined yet, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning says that Rush will be an asset for the Ducks in 2023.
“There are times you find guys that are on campus that can help you and if there’s somebody (that) can enhance it from a number standpoint, we felt like we had room for another guy that can be out there to help us and that’s had some experience as a player,” Lanning said on Tuesday. “Matt has that.”
Rush, a senior transfer, is coming to Eugene via St. Louis where he played Division III football for Washington University. The 6-foot, 181-pounder from Illinois was a two-year starter for the Bears where he completed nearly 67 percent of his passes to go with 54 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions in 20 career games.
Rush is the fifth QB on Oregon’s roster, joining Bo Nix, Ty Thomspon, Austin Novosad, and fellow walk-on Marcus Sanders.
Senior QB transfer Matt Rush, out of Division III Washington University in St. Louis, has joined Oregon as a walk-on quarterback.
It’s always good to have many quarterbacks on the roster just in case disaster strikes via injuries.
Oregon as added walk-on quarterback Matt Rush as a senior transfer out of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Rush isn’t your typical walk-on QB, though.
As the starter for the Division III school for the last two seasons, he completed 67 percent of his passes and threw for 54 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also averaged 240 yards per game.
The 6-foot, 181-pounder from Hinsdale, Ill. was a two-year letter winner in football and three-year letter winner in basketball at Hinsdale Central High School. He threw for over 2,000 yards in his prep career with 32 touchdowns, including 20 touchdown passes as a senior.
Another season of Notre Dame basketball is underway. After a one-year absence, the action tips off once again with an exhibition game. This time, they’ll be welcoming Division III program Nazareth College of Rochester, New York, to South Bend. Here are five things to think about as the Irish see their first game action of the season:
“He put a club in my hand, showed me how to swing. I took my first shot at it, and I outdrove him. He said, ‘Oh, OK.’ ”
Yupha Muzyka likes to grow organic tomatoes in her garden for Alvernia head coach Tom O’Connell. It’s one of a million little ways Muzyka is unlike most college golfers. For starters, she lives at home with her husband and two kids and has a garden. She’s also 39.
Sometimes, Muzyka will jokingly ask O’Connell why he likes to tell her age to opponents.
“Because it’s fun when you beat them,” O’Connell responds.
Alvernia sophomore McKylie Boreman only found out Muzyka’s real age a few weeks ago. Like most, Boreman was blown away.
“She makes it look effortless,” said Boreman of Muzyka’s ability to blend in among players 20 years younger.
Alvernia head coach Tom O’Connell helps Yupha Muzyka with the line of a putt. (courtesy photo)
Alvernia University is a Division III Catholic school in Reading, Pennsylvania. Muzyka’s journey there actually begins in Thailand, where she was born, and moves to Singapore, where she met future husband Steve while visiting her sister.
Muzyka emigrated to America not long after high school and was introduced to golf by Steve, a 12-handicapper who works as an engineer. They started out in miniature golf and then moved to Pleasant Hill Golf Course in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, a beginner-friendly track that no longer operates.
“He put a club in my hand, showed me how to swing,” said Muzyka. “I took my first shot at it, and I outdrove him. He said, ‘Oh, OK.’ ”
A year, later Steve joked that he’d created a monster. Muzyka beat him every time the couple teed it up.
Muzyka always intended to go back to school, and she did, not long after coming to the U.S. But she became deeply frustrated at a community college when her English wasn’t proficient enough to understand the professor. She decided to take a break, but then became pregnant with Alexis, who just turned 16, and wound up taking an even longer break. Her youngest daughter, Allison, is now in the seventh grade.
Yupha Muzyka’s daughters, Allison and Alexis, head out to practice. (Courtesy photo)
As the girls grew older, Muzyka thought it was time to go back to school to finally get that degree in business. In time, she found herself in the admissions office at Alvernia filling out an application form.
When she skipped the line asking if there was an interest in playing sports, Steve told her to go back and check yes.
“I said no, I’m too old,” she recalled.
Steve insisted.
As the admission counselor read over the form, he asked about Muzyka’s interest in playing a sport. Steve took the opportunity to brag on his wife’s amateur career, rattling off her four county championship titles and Women’s Central Penn Golf Association crown.
By the time Muzyka got home, O’Connell was on the other end of her phone line, calling from his beach vacation.
“I’m kind of too old to be a college athlete, aren’t I?” she asked.
Yupha Muzyka poses with her family. (Courtesy photo)
Now in her fourth year on the Alvernia team, Muzyka is four classes away from earning her MBA and works as a graduate assistant in the school’s business financial trading lab. She speaks three languages and carries a 3.9 GPA.
“She’s never missed a match,” said O’Connell. “She can’t get enough of it.”
Muzyka went into the whole thing worried that she’d feel like a third wheel. But that never happened. A tireless worker who, according to O’Connell, is in better shape than anyone on the team, Muzyka won two of the first three events she ever played in college and was Middle Atlantic Conference First-Team All-Conference as a freshman.
Boreman will ask Muzyka about practice drills and classes. Muzyka, who is fully engaged in van conversations, even has a TikTok account. If, on occasion, something gets lost in translation, Muzyka’s sense of humor prevails.
“I wouldn’t even say she acts like a mom to the team,” said Boreman. “She’s literally one of us.”
From left, Alvernia College’s McKylie Boreman, Yupha Muzyka, Katie Lapinsky, Maggie Arnold and Brianna Hocker. (Contributed photo)
Last fall, Alvernia won four consecutive events with Muzyka claiming the title in the last tournament of the semester for her sixth career victory. Muzyka hopes her final spring season at Alvernia will be her most consistent.
This year’s Middle Atlantic Conference Championship is at Golden Oaks Golf Club in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, a course she knows well. She’d like to break 75 for both rounds. High standards to the finish.
“It worked out better than I ever could’ve imagined,” said O’Connell.
