MAPLE GROVE, Minn. – The first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships of the 2023-24 academic year are set to tee off this weekend, as MIAC men’s golfers will head to Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove, Minn. for the 2023 MIAC Men’s Golf Championships.
This will be the first time the MIAC Championships have been held at Rush Creek. The men’s tournament had been played at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids, Minn. for 22 of the last 26 seasons, in addition to three years in Jordan, Minn. at the Ridges at Sand Creek (2017-19) and one spring championship at Emerald Greens in Hastings, Minn. (2021).
The nine men’s golf teams from around the conference will begin the three-day, 54-hole conference championship this Saturday, September 30 and crown the MIAC champion on Monday, October 2.
CHAMPIONSHIP 101
Each MIAC team will enter five players in the tournament, with the program’s four best performances each day determining the team score. The team with the lowest score over the course of the tournament will receive the MIAC's automatic qualifier to the 2024 NCAA Division III Golf Championships.
Action will begin Saturday morning with the first wave of golfers set to tee off at 11:00 a.m. Teams are seeded based on their finish in the 2022 MIAC Championships and golfers will tee off in descending order of their place in the lineup (No. 5 to No. 1). The defending MIAC champion Saint John's University Johnnies will tee off alongside Bethel and Gustavus to start the tournament at 11:00 a.m., with teams following in order of 2022 finish every ten minutes after. Carleton, Concordia, and Augsburg are tentatively set to begin teeing off at 11:50 a.m. on Saturday, followed by Macalester, St. Olaf, and St. Scholastica at 12:40 p.m.
Sunday’s tee times are also set to begin at 11:00 a.m. while Monday’s final round is slated for an 8:00 a.m. start, weather permitting; however, the specific pairings for Sunday and Monday will be reordered from high to low according to the previous day's scores. Tentative tee times and pairings for the tournament will be available online on the championship home page.
| 2023-24 Men's Golf Statistics | Men's Golf Record Book |
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Spectators are welcome to attend the 2023 MIAC Golf Championships at Rush Creek Golf Club and must follow all local and spectator rules. Fans not in attendance in Maple Grove can follow all the action via unofficial live scoring and hole-by-hole updates through Golfstat's live scoring system.
The MIAC has a championship home page for the event that will serve as the online home of the tournament. The championship page will include tee times, pairings, and results as they become available, as well as recaps and photos.
| Championship Home Page | Men's Live Scoring | Local Rules | Spectator Rules |
ALL-CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNERS
Eight former MIAC Men's Golf All-Championship Team honorees will be back on the course this weekend including Augsburg's Stellan Orvick (8th 2020) and River Goodmanson (T5th 2019); Bethel’s Conor Schubring (2nd 2022) and Will Karkoc (5th 2022), and Saint John's Nate Loxtercamp (1st 2022, 2nd 2021), Sam Berger (4th 2022, T4th 2021, 3rd 2020), Andrew Boemer (3rd 2022), and Blake Schuler (T7th 2021).
IN THE POLLS
Saint John's was ranked No. 11 in the Bushnell Golfweek Preseason Coaches' Poll, released on September 1. Gustavus picked up 26 points in the balloting.
AROUND THE MIAC
Augsburg senior Fritz Belisle (Red Wing, Minn.) carded a career-low 69 in the first round of the Twin Cities Classic on 9/23. Belisle finished in a tie for 14th place at the tournament with a 54-hole score of 221 (69-77-75) in the 104-player field.
Bethel senior Conor Schubring (St. Louis Park, Minn.) took home medalist honors at the Twin Cities Classic on 9/23-25, carding an even-par 214 to lead the Royals to their second tournament win of the season. Schubring opened the weekend with a 75 before matching a career- and program-low round 5-under-par 67 in round two. Four birdies on the front nine had him a 3-under before going 2-under on the backstretch. He shot a 72 in the final round after being 2-under at the turn. He is the only MIAC golfer with a sub-72 average on the season.
Carleton first-year Sam Higaki carded the Knights’ lowest round of the season at the first tournament of the year, posting a second-round score of 68 at the Augsburg Invitational on 9/3. Higaki tied for seventh in the 66-player field with a 2-over-par 146 (78-68).
Concordia sophomore Gabe Benson (Fargo, N.D. | Davies) won the Augsburg Invitational on 9/2-3 by five strokes after firing a 66 on the final day of competition. His second-round score of 66 is the second-lowest score by a Cobber in program history. He finished the two-day tournament with a 7-under-par total of 137 (71-66), which tied the school record for lowest total at a two-round tournament. The individual medalist honor was the first of his career. Benson only had one bogey at the event and finished with a tournament-best eight birdies.
Gustavus junior Jack Reinardy (Andover, Minn.) won his first NCAA tournament on 9/17, finishing first out of 113 golfers at the Williams College Invitational. Reinardy carded a 1-under par 141 (68-73), tallying nine birdies through two rounds. In a field of 22 teams and multiple All-Americans, Reinardy posted a tournament-low score of 68 in round one en route to medalist honors.
Macalester first-year Luke Blankinship (Louisville, Colo. | Boulder) won the 40-team, 206-player Midwest Region Fall Classic in Kansasville, Wis. on 9/22-23 by carding rounds of 70 and 66 for an 8-under-par score of 136. His performance broke the program records for 18 holes (66) and 36 holes (136). Blankinship also helped the Scots place seventh and break team standards for both 18 holes (286) and 36 holes (601).
Saint John’s junior Andrew Boemer (Eagan, Minn. | St. Thomas Academy) earned medalist honors for the first time in his collegiate career by posting a two-round total of 139 (69-70, -4) to help lead the Johnnies to a 22-shot victory at the SJU Fall Invitational on 9/16-17. Boemer shot 3-under par on his final eight holes of the first round and totaled five birdies in round two.
St. Olaf sophomore Isaac Schmidt (Madison, Wis. | Memorial) shot a 3-under-par 69 in the second round of the Minnesota Golf Classic on 9/9-10. Schmidt had 13 of the Oles' 42 birdies on the weekend to sit one shy of the highest total for an NCAA Division III competitor over the three rounds. The sophomore's second-round score was tied for the fifth-lowest in relation to par by an Ole since 2009-10.
St. Scholastica first-year Connor O’Hara (Hermantown, Minn.) was the top finisher for the Saints at the Twin Ports Collegiate on 9/9-10. O’Hara shot 72-74=146 (+4) to tie for second overall at the seven-team meet, improving his scoring average by 15 strokes in the process. His rounds of 72 and 74 are the two lowest by a CSS golfer this season, with his first-round 72 representing the lowest round by Saints men’s golfer since 2019.
LEAGUE LEADERS
| 2023-24 MIAC Men's Golf Statistical Leaders |
| Individual |
Team |
| Name |
Rounds |
Shots |
Average |
Team |
Rounds |
Shots |
Average |
| Conor Schubring, Bethel |
10 |
719 |
71.9 |
Saint John's |
7 |
2027 |
289.6 |
| Nate Loxtercamp, Saint John's |
7 |
504 |
72.0 |
Bethel |
10 |
2919 |
291.9 |
| Andrew Boemer, Saint John's |
7 |
507 |
72.4 |
Gustavus |
10 |
2977 |
297.7 |
| Jacob Hall, Bethel |
10 |
726 |
72.6 |
Concordia |
13 |
3888 |
299.1 |
| Gabe Benson, Concordia |
13 |
945 |
72.7 |
Augsburg |
10 |
3036 |
303.6 |
| Teddy Kaste, Gustavus |
7 |
509 |
72.7 |
St. Olaf |
10 |
3039 |
303.9 |
| Stellan Orvick, Augsburg |
10 |
733 |
73.3 |
Carleton |
10 |
3071 |
307.1 |
| Ethan Kress, Saint John's |
7 |
515 |
73.7 |
Macalester |
11 |
3111 |
311.1 |
| Sam Berger, Saint John's |
7 |
516 |
73.7 |
St. Scholastica |
8 |
2626 |
337.6 |
| Blake Schuler, Saint John's |
7 |
516 |
73.7 |
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