The fall season was tough for MVNU as four-year senior Jared Schlabach missed all but one tournament in the fall with an injury, which meant that fellow senior Tyler Tinch was the only player with more than four collegiate golf tournaments under his belt as the Cougars hit the links.

MVNU posted fifth-place finishes at both the Ohio Dominican University/Otterbein College Invitational and the Malone University Fall Invitational and then tied for ninth place at the Bethel (Ind.) College Invitational. However, the Cougars shot well enough to qualify for the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament in Panama City, Fla.

At the NCCAA National Tournament, the team finished 13th out of 18 teams, but the one bright spot was the play of freshman Mitch Justice, who fired a two-day total of 154 to finish just two strokes off the cut to be named an NCCAA All-American.

“In prior years, I had a pretty good idea of what the returning players would shoot going into the fall season,” said MVNU coach Mark Stiverson after wrapping up his fourth season with the team. “The freshmen would be unknown. Rarely did I have to think about injuries. Well, this season was the year for injuries and surprises. Jared quickly went down with an injury in the preseason and Mitch was called into service. We had to play well in the fall in order to get an invitation to the NCCAA National Tournament. And, the guys did that. The core fall team of Tyler, Adam (Carroll), Jay (Ruffner), and Mitch along with Adam (Nichols), Cory (Palmer), and Pat (Freeh) vying for the remaining spot kept things interesting. Jared’s injury healed in time for the NCCAA’s, but we were disappointed with the results we posted there except for the play of Mitch.”

With the fall season behind them, the Cougars began to focus on practicing to improve their game. However, the weather did not always cooperate and allow for as much activity as hoped. Before long, spring rolled around and the team headed south for a week of practice rounds in Brooksville, Fla.

“The winter and early spring weather were brutal with very few good days to practice outside,” said Stiverson. “Even though we were able to hit the driving range, it does not seem to be complete until you can play to see how well you are doing.”

“We had great weather and the practice time and courses were in fine shape during our spring trip,” Stiverson continued. “However, it is difficult to gauge how well everyone is doing as the courses are somewhat tougher than our normal tournament courses. But, some very respectable scores were posted and (senior) Matt (Kerns) joined us.”

The team returned north to begin tournament play and finished 16th out of 17 teams at the Southeastern Kentucky Intercollegiate Invitational. From there, the team had two third-place finishes and a fifth-place and a sixth-place finish to close out the regular season.

“The spring weather here at home was completely different than our weather in Florida,” said Stiverson. “Even though all the teams play in it, we just could not get on track as a team to shoot some low scores until the AMC Tournament. We ended the year on a very good note finishing fourth with several of the players posting some very good scores.”

MVNU finished fourth out of 10 teams at the AMC Tournament. Ruffner, a sophomore, earned a spot on the All-AMC Team by tying for tenth place overall, while Tinch and Schlabach were just one stroke back.

Individually, Tinch had the lowest average for the season at 78.9 as he and Ruffner were the only two players to play all 20 rounds that the team played in. Carroll, who was a sophomore, averaged an even 80.0 before a knee injury ended his season early, and Schlabach (80.2) and Ruffner (80.4) were both right there with him in scoring. Justice (81.6), Palmer (84.7), Kerns (86.7), Freeh (90.2), and Nichols (91.2) rounded out the scoring for the Cougars.

“I will miss the graduating seniors,” said Stiverson. “Having just completed my fourth season, Jared is my first four-year graduating player. I could always count on him to shoot a score that would count. Tyler has also had a tremendous impact on the program since transferring in three years ago. I don’t think either one of them missed a tournament in their time here unless it was due to an injury. I was glad that Matt decided to come back in the spring as well. We needed a little boost and more competition within the team.”

“We will have our work cut out for us in the fall,” Stiverson added. “To qualify for the NCCAA’s, everyone will have to come in on the top of their game. Several new schools have been added to the NCCAA. To help combat that, we have a pretty decent recruiting class coming in the fall which should make the team competitive. I will miss the guys graduating, but I am looking forward to what we can do next fall.”