Western Wayne Today

The Wayne State University men's golf team is set to compete in the NCAA Midwest/Central Super Regional. The tournament, hosted by Southern Nazarene, will take place from May 9-11 at KickingBird Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Head coach Mike Horn expressed optimism about the team's chances. "We are looking for the performance of our season in Oklahoma," he said. "The guys have been practicing real hard and I think we're ready to achieve our goals. If we can play relaxed and confident like we did at Boone's Trace, then we will definitely be in contention come Saturday. Adam (Burghardt) is due to break out and to start leading us. This is our time."

The competition involves 54 holes of stroke play, with the top five teams and two individual athletes not affiliated with a team advancing to the NCAA finals scheduled for May 21-25 at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, Florida.

In Florida, all qualifying teams and individuals will participate in another round of 54 holes of stroke play. An individual champion will be declared after these rounds based on cumulative scores and any necessary tiebreakers. The top eight teams will enter a bracket for head-to-head medal play.

Wayne State's lineup includes Josh DiCarlo from Amherstburg, Ontario; Mat Hawryluk from Chatham, Ontario; Ian Smith from Canton, Michigan; Adam Burghardt from New Baltimore, Michigan; Max Leppelmeier from Wauseon, Ohio; with Josh Lahner from Roselle, Illinois as an alternate.

DiCarlo has previous experience at this event having competed twice before. Last year he finished tied-for-33rd out of 108 golfers. Other returning players include Hawryluk who tied-for-25th last spring, Burghardt who tied-for-50th, and Leppelmeier who tied-for-61st.

The tournament field features ten Midwest teams including Grand Valley State ranked fourth nationally and Missouri S&T ranked twenty-fourth. Central Oklahoma leads the Central Teams being ranked sixteenth nationally.

Individual competitors include Bryson Oots from William Jewell representing Midwest Individuals and Jeffrey Johnston from Missouri Western representing Central Individuals.

Wayne State has had varying success in recent regional appearances with their best finish being tenth out of twenty teams last year.