For the second time in three seasons, the Hillsdale College men's golf team is one of 64 teams to make the NCAA Division II Championship field.
The Chargers were one of eight Midwest Regional qualifiers announced by the NCAA on Friday afternoon, ranked fifth among the Midwest Regional teams. Hillsdale is one of three Great Midwest Athletic Conference teams in the field, along with third-seeded Findlay and seventh-seeded Trevecca Nazarene.
Strong performances throughout the season helped the Chargers earn a regional qualifying berth. Hillsdale had a string of four straight tournaments in the fall that included finishes of third or better as a team, including back-to-back runner up finishes at the Midwest Regional hosted by Missouri-St. Louis and the Music City Invite. More recently, Hillsdale earned runner-up honors at this past week's G-MAC Championships, the program's best finish in a spring conference championship since the program was reinstated in 2015.
The Chargers are led by fifth-year seniors George Roberts and Ryan Zetwick, who have combined for six top 10 finishes and four top five finishes this season. Freshman Gerry Jones Jr. also has a top-five finish to his name this year, and sophomore Josh Davenport has one top-10 finish.
Hillsdale will travel to the Central/Midwest Super Regional hosted by William Jewell at the Shoal Creek Golf Club from May 6-8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The top eight teams from both the Central and Midwest Regions will compete for four berths to the NCAA Division II Championships on May 17-21 at PGA National Resort; The Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The Chargers' only previous regional appearance came in the spring of 2019, when Hillsdale finished 13th out of 20 teams in the Super Regional. Davenport, Roberts and Zetwick were all a part of that squad and will be aiming for a better performance and the program's first ever finals berth two weeks from now.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Niermann/Findlay Athletics