The MCC men’s golf team held on to second place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 12 Tournament to earn a berth in the NJCAA Division II National Championships being held May 21-24 at Good Pond Colony in Scottsboro, Ala.
Owens won the regional with 884, followed by MCC with 916, Grand Rapids CC 924, Columbus CC 925 and Jackson CC with 926.
Caleb Johnson (Muskegon, MI/West Michigan Christian) led MCC with his third place score of 220 for three rounds. Marcus Fry (Muskegon, MI/Spring Lake) and Bill Oosting (Muskegon, MI/Orchard View) tied for 12th with 154, Travis Clarke (Muskegon, MI/Reeths-Puffer) tied for 26th with 157, Dave Bonter (Spring Lake, MI/Spring Lake) tied for 28th with 158 and Scott Belcourt (Edmonton, Alberta/Holy Trinity Catholic) tied for 52nd with 173.
“It was a great team effort,” said second year MCC head coach Marty McDermott. “We used everybody’s score at least once throughout the three rounds.”
Johnson, who finished fourth in the nation in 2012, anchored the MCC effort.
“He was consistent and right around par every day,” said McDermott. “When you have somebody who scores like that, it makes it easier for the guys on the back end. The four guys in the middle of our line up – Marcus, Bill, Travis and Dave – played solid golf and stayed out of trouble. That allowed us to hold off the other teams. After the two rounds in the first day, there were four schools within 10 strokes.”
MCC last competed at nationals in 2007, but the Jayhawks have set their sights high on a familiar course.
“Our goal is to have a top five finish,” said McDermott. “There are some very, very good golfers that will play. We saw them earlier in the year when we played the same course.”