Saint John’s golf begins the 2022-23 season at the Augsburg Invitational this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3-4, at Majestic Oaks G.C. (par 72) in Ham Lake. – Live Scoring
TEE TIMES: Each round this weekend is scheduled for a shotgun start, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday followed by 8 a.m. Sunday.
READY TO DEFEND AGAIN: Saint John’s won its second consecutive conference title (14th overall) last fall, shooting 14-under-par over the three-day, 45-hole conference tournament. The win clinched the Johnnies’ 20th appearance at the NCAA Division III Championship (19th as a team), where they finished 26th out of 43 teams in May.
Four Johnnies were named to the Division III PING All-Region 6 team, three of which return: senior Thomas Gutzmer (Jordan, Minn.), junior Nate Loxtercamp (Richmond, Minn./Melrose Area) and junior Blake Schuler (Waconia, Minn.). The Johnnies have now had 55 All-Region honorees in the last 23 seasons (since 2000).
The All-Region award was the second consecutive for Gutzmer, who finished second on the team with a 74.3 scoring average in 20.5 rounds. He finished 10th at the at the conference meet, months after he tied for medalist honors in the 2021 (spring) MIAC Championship.
Loxtercamp led the Johnnies with five top-five finishes in 10 events and recorded a 75.1 average with seven rounds at par or better. He won the SJU Fall Invitational with a two-round total of 141 (-3) and finished second at the conference meet to earn his second All-MIAC honor.
Schuler registered a 75.3 average and five rounds at par or better, and was the lone Johnnie to finish in the top eight in all three, regular-season events last spring. He tied for seventh at the MIAC Championship.
An All-MIAC honoree last fall, junior Sam Berger (Waconia, Minn.) posted a 75.8 average and tied for fourth at the MIAC Championship.
ACADEMIC AWARDS GALORE: SJU received Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-Academic team recognition for the 14th straight season over the summer. To be eligible for All-Academic Team honors, a college or university must submit the grade points earned and hours attempted for each player on its official squad list for the academic year and carry a team GPA of 3.00 or higher. The 18 Johnnies combined for a 3.46 team GPA.
Individually, Gutzmer, Loxtercamp, senior Cameron Lemke (Avon, Minn./Albany) return among the five GCAA All-America Scholar honorees. The SJU golf program has now had an All-America Scholar each of the last 23 years, for a total of 46 during that span.
Loxtercamp also earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award for having the highest cumulative GPA among the student-athletes at nationals. The honor was SJU golf’s third in the last five seasons.
THE REST OF THE SCHEDULE: SJU returns to the Twin Cities for Bethel’s Minnesota Golf Classic next weekend, Sept. 10-11, at Pioneer Creek G.C. in Maple Plain. The Johnnies host their annual Fall Invitational Sept. 17-18 at St. Cloud C.C. and Blackberry Ridge G.C. in Sartell, respectively, and close the month of September with the three-day Twin Cities Classic, hosted by Gustavus Adolphus, Sept. 24-26. SJU ends its fall schedule Oct. 1-3 at the MIAC Championship held at Bunker Hills G.C. in Coon Rapids.
BOB IS BACK: Athletic director Bob Alpers ’82 is back at the helm of the Johnnies’ golf program. Alpers, who relinquished the position he held for 28 years in 2021 to focus on his duties as SJU’s athletic director, will once again lead the two-time defending, MIAC-champion Johnnies in 2022-23. He guided the Johnnies to back-to-back NCAA Division III championships in 2007 and 2008, 12 MIAC titles and 19 NCAA appearances. SJU finished in the top 10 at nationals 11 times (14 times in the top 15). Only one school in Division III has more appearances at the NCAA Championship during the last 20 years.
During his previous tenure as head coach, SJU produced 33 All-Americans and 47 Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Scholar All-Americans. A Johnnie earned MIAC Golf of the Year honors for the first 12 seasons of the award’s existence and 13 times overall during his tenure. Alpers was named the 2007 Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year and was inducted into the GCAA Hall of Fame – the eighth from Division III – in 2010. He is a five-time GCAA Region Coach of the Year and has won MIAC Coach of the Year honors 13 times.
WHO WILL BE THERE: In addition to the Johnnies (two teams) and host Auggies, other schools scheduled to compete this weekend include Bethel (two teams), Carleton, Concordia-Moorhead, Gustavus Adolphus (two teams), Macalester, Manitoba, Nebraska Wesleyan, St. Scholastica and Wisconsin-Eau Claire (two teams).
WHO’S PLAYING: The Johnnies are scheduled to send 10 golfers to Majestic Oaks G.C. this weekend:
SJU Red
1. Senior Thomas Gutzmer (Jordan, Minn.)
2. Junior Sam Berger (Waconia, Minn.)
3. Junior Blake Schuler (Waconia, Minn.)
4. Sophomore Andrew Boemer (Eagan, Minn./St. Thomas Academy)
5. Junior Nate Loxtercamp (Richmond, Minn./Melrose Area)
SJU Blue
1. Senior Cameron Lemke (Avon, Minn./Albany)
2. Sophomore Cole Proctor (Brainerd, Minn.)
3. Junior Mark Longhenry (Bloomington, Minn./Holy Angels)
4. Sophomore Will Gruidl (Edina, Minn./Minnehaha Academy)
5. Junior Thomas Ellis (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen)
SJU’S COURSE RECORDS: The Johnnies boast 10 individual, below-par rounds at Majestic Oaks G.C. in Ham Lake. The record of -3 was set by Casey Vangsness ’14 back in 2011.
-3 – Casey Vangsness, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 10, 2011)
‐2 – Sam Berger, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 5, 2021)
‐2 – Sam Olson, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 4, 2016)
‐2 – Austin Kottke, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 3, 2017)
‐2 – Collin Seal, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 6, 2015)
‐2 – Collin Seal, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 7, 2014)
‐2 – Dennis Granath, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 11, 2011)
-1 – Alex Klehr, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 10, 2011)
-1 – Mark Giorgi, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 12, 2010)
-1 – David Schneider, Augsburg Invitational (Sept. 3, 2017)
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