JUCO golf: Warriors open season
Sep. 12—OTTUMWA — Head coach Michael Wetrich and the Indian Hills men's golf squad have teed off the fall portion of the 2022-23 campaign.
Following a 12th-place finish at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Golf National Championship this past spring, the Warriors are primed to make another run in the NJCAA Central District and qualify for the national tournament for the national tournament for the 36th consecutive season. The Warriors have won five national championships in program history.
"I am so excited for our guys to get the season started," Wetrich said. "They have been working hard building up to this point. We have a lot of new players on our roster that I am excited to see them in action." Wetrich enters his first full season as head coach of the program after taking over in February.
The Warriors began competition Monday at the two-day Siouxland Invitational in Sioux Cente at The Ridge Golf Club, opening season with a five-under-par opening round of 283 and a 14-under-par second round of 275. Heading into Tuesday's final round, held on the Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City, Indian Hills led Northwestern College by 30 strokes with the two-round of 557.
Njoroge Kibugu and Damian Osner led the Warriors on the opening day of the tournament, each finishing the first two rounds with six-under-par totals of 138. The Warriors follow-up with the Bent Tree Intercollegiate Showcase in Council Bluffs at the Bent Tree Golf Course, a 36-hole, one-day event on Sept. 19.
The highly anticipated National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Preview is set for Sept. 27-28 at the home of the 2023 NJCAA National Championship, Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, Kansas.
Indian Hills will compete in a pair of events to close out the fall season in October, the Lewis University Invite in Lemont, Illinois Oct. 3-4 and the Grier Jones Shocker Invitational Oct. 10-11 in Wichita, Kansas.
Additional dates in the spring have been set as well as the Warriors will head to the Lindenwood Invitational in St. Charles, Missouri (Mar. 13-14), the Butler Spring Invitational in Indianapolis, Indiana (Mar. 27-28), the Prairie Dunes Collegiate in Sterling, Kansas (Apr. 3-4) and the Bethany College Classic at Sand Creek Station.
The 2023 NJCAA National Championship is set for May 16-19.
The Warriors head into the 2022 season with three returners back from last year. Osner, Mitchell Revie and Jaskaran Sohal bring the veteran leadership to this year's group that features six freshmen.
This year's freshman class features Edouard Cereto, Gaspar Glaudas, Grant Greazel, Kibugu, Taimur Malik and Jose Miguel Ramirez.
