For the first time in conference history, the La Verne golf team has gone undefeated in the Southern California Intercollegiate Conference tournaments this season.
The Leopards capped off their remarkable year by finishing first in the SCIAC championships held on April 30 at the Indian Wells Country Club.
Coming into the final conference tourney, ULV was ranked No. 4 nationally in Division III.
The team lived up to its billing as they finished atop the overall team standings, shooting a final score of 584 on the 36 hole course, which proved to be only eight strokes over par.
“This year we’ve won eight tournaments and all six of our conference tournaments,” said senior Nathan Logan. “And it was a good feeling to keep our conference streak alive.”
In the final SCIAC competition of 2007, La Verne’s next closest opponent, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, shot 11 more strokes than Leopards, finishing with a total score of 595, while Redlands rounded out the top three with a score of 610.
In the individual standings, junior Jordan Talah shined once again as he lead the team in the championships with his two round score of 143.
The Glendora native was recently honored as SCIAC Player of the Year.
The honors come to no surprise to Talah since he has demonstrated incredible consistency and overall improvement throughout this season.
“It’s good to be honored because I’ve been playing for a while now,” Talah said. “I’m pretty proud of it.”
In addition to Talah, others on the team have also shared in many accolades and successes as well.
Talah and Logan were named First Team All-SCIAC, while underclassmen Rizal Amin and Mitchell Fedorka made Second Team.
Also, freshman Andrew Kramer received SCIAC Player of the Week honors on April 26.
All four returners are expected to be prominent players and additions to the conference teams next season.
Still the Leopards’ roster has several players that can step up and continue to rise in their play.
Head coach Rex Huigens believes that the entire roster is filled with players who can contribute to the team’s success at every tournament.
“This is the best team we’ve ever had,” Huigens said. “We have some real depth on our team and a number of guys who can shoot low scores at any time.”
The Leopards hope to rely on all their players and on their recent successes as the squad prepares for the NCAA championships on May 15.
They anticipate being one of the top teams at the national tournament this year once again, after finishing in the top 10 in 2005 and 13th overall last season.
“I expect us to be very competitive at nationals,” Huigens said. “It’s the best teams in the nation and hopefully we are one of them.”
Galo Pesantes can be reached at gpesantes@ulv.edu.
