As the Johnnie golf team competes in their last regular meet of the season against St. Thomas, they look forward to finishing their exceptional season with a trip to nationals.
This spring the team has been able to go undefeated against all D3 opponents. They placed first at the Gustavus College Invite on April 19, and not only won the St. John’s Spring Invitational on April 25, but shot two under par as a team, a first in St. John’s golf history.
At the St. John’s Invitational, the Johnnies were able to finish first, second and third individually, a first for the team.
Sophomore Tony Krogen placed first and finished three under par with a three day total of 211, first-year Mark Giorgi placed second shooting two under par with a total of 212 and Ben Vangsness scored 216 to finish in third place.
Being able to practice outside early in the season along with their trip to Arizona has helped the team with their success.
“We went to Arizona and got a chance to scrimmage Arizona State and were very competitive with them,” coach Bob Alpers said. “Our guys came back fired up, and ready to play. This year because the snow melted so early we were able to get outside early and practice more.”
Since the Johnnies won the conference championship last fall, they have an automatic bid to nationals, which start May 11 in Hershey, Pa.
To prepare for the tournament, the team continues to work hard and motivate each other to do well.
“Playing against our teammates helps us to get ready for the tournament because we are the best competition that we are going to play,” first-year Mark Giorgi said.
With a long history of doing well at nationals, the team is excited to see the outcome at the tournament.
“If we play our best we can win. Vangsness and I are the only two that have been in competition with southern schools, the other guys are younger and haven’t seen it before, junior Ben Cahill said. “If we get it into our heads that we are better than the southern schools then we will do well.”
Playing in Arizona also helped the team by giving them the experience to prepare them for nationals.
“Playing in Arizona gave me a lot of confidence that we can play with one of the better D1 schools in the country,” Giorgi said.
Overall, the team is happy with their play this season and attributes much of their achievements not only to their work ethic and talent, but their dedication to training during the winter. Encouraged by their coach, the Johnnies participated in Pilates twice a week at St. Ben’s.
“We didn’t want to go to St Ben’s and be the only boys in the class, but by the second week we said that we would try it and then we went every Tuesday and Thursday. It has helped us a lot with our flexibility,” Cahill said.