Freshly Back From States, Golfers Already Looking to 2002

Freshman Josh Wells (DuBois) and sophomore Bryan Vertigan (Emmaus) completed play in the recent two-day Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association Championships on Penn State's Blue Course by shooting a 166 and 178, respectively.

"They didn't play to their potential," assessed coach Chet Schuman. "It's kind of sad. The conditions were good. The greens were hard to hold, but they knew that. Even the winning score, a young man out of Keystone (College), shot a 77-78 (155) and last year the winner shot a 70-72, so the scores this year were much higher than in previous years."

"We didn't end up where we thought we would," Schuman continued. "Our goal next year? We want to send three to states."

Not one to dwell on the past, however, the coach quickly added, "We're excited for next year. We've already had a number of inquiries for the Fall 2002 team, and we'll be bringing back Josh Wells along with Nate Hauser (freshman/Mount Calvary Christian) and Brad Wells (freshman/Stroudsburg). We have a very strong core coming back. We should be competitive if we get some good freshmen.

"It's encouraging because the College has had an excellent reputation for education, and it's nice that we can complement it with athletics." Schuman, as the college's director of admissions, noted, "I get to look at all of them. Now I can spend my energies recruiting not only a good freshman class for 2002, but a good freshman golfing class for 2002. I get the best of both worlds."