Carthage College Athletics

The Carthage College men’s golf team (82-5-1) finished second at the CCIW Men’s Golf Championship for the second-straight year. The first two rounds were played on April 17-18 at the Rail Golf Club in Springfield, Ill, with the final two rounds of the championship being played on May 1-2 at the Whisper Creek Golf Club in Huntley, Ill. The winner of the tournament receives the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship. Illinois Wesleyan University won its 12th league championship and second in a row with a 281-276-300-308-1165, 23 strokes ahead of Carthage at 288-288-303-309-1188. Wheaton College (Ill.) was third at 301-280-309-312-1202, followed by Millikin University fourth at 301-295-314-311-1221, North Central College fifth at 305-291-319-319-1234, Elmhurst College sixth at 307-304-309-328-1248, Augustana College (Ill.) seventh at 308-312-334-326-1280 and North Park University eighth with a 327-329-331-341-1328 mark.

The format for the CCIW Men’s Golf Championship was changed in 2007. Instead of the previous 36-hole championship played at the Elks Country Club in Pontiac, Ill., the championship was expanded to a four-day, 72-hole event and played on two separate weekends on two courses. In 2007, Carthage received the league’s first-ever automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship.

While Carthage missed out on winning the CCIW’s automatic team qualifier, Tyler Wollberg (Sr., Mundelein, Ill., team-leading 73.1 final season average) was among the five individual players selected to participate in the championship at the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla. After the second day of play, Wollberg was tied for 90th place with a 76-79-155 and did not make the cut for the final two rounds. Wollberg played in the 2008 championship, also as an individual, and tied for 15th place with a 76-73-77-74-300. At the CCIW championship, Tyler Wollberg tied for sixth place and earned All-CCIW honors, with a 71-73-75-76-295. Wollberg tied his own 2008 school record by winning four individual tournament titles.

Matt Carr (Sr., Galesburg, Ill., 74.9 season average) finished third and earned all-conference honors with a 70-70-76-76-292. Tim Gannon (Sr., Darien, Ill./Lombard-Montini Catholic, 75.2) tied for sixth and also earned All-CCIW with a 72-69-76-78-295. Bobby O’Neill (So., Mokena, Ill./Frankfort—Lincoln-Way East, 77.1) tied for 15th place at 75-76-76-81-308. Scott Shiple (Fr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East, 78.3) played the first two rounds of the championship and shot a 76-82-158, while Dan Parks (Fr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey, 78.3) played the final two rounds and shot a 77-79-156.

Carthage played extremely well going into the CCIW championship, winning five-of-eight tournaments, with two second-place finishes and a fourth in the other three events. The Red Men won the Sept. 20-21 Millikin “Big Blue Invitational,” the Sept. 27-28 Wisconsin Lutheran College Invitational, the March 27 Knox College “Prairie Fire Classic,” the April 10-11 Augustana (Ill.) Invitational and the April 19-20 Carroll University “Pioneer Invitational.”