Head Coach: Brett Muller (13th year)
2022-23 GPAC Finish: 5th(296-307-296–899)
Key Returners: Drew D’Ercole; Jake Hagerbaumer; Gavin McWhorter; Jake Richmond; Justin Webert; Jacob Woodmancy.
Key Loss: Ivan Yabut.
2022-23 GPAC All-Conference: Drew D’Ercole; Ivan Yabut.
Outlook
Eight of the nine Bulldogs who carded season averages in the 70s last season return to the 2023-24 Concordia University Men’s Golf team. Based on their competitiveness level from 2022-23, the Bulldogs believe they are not all that far off from making a run at a conference championship. Entering year 13 at the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs, Head Coach Brett Muller supplemented his roster with four freshmen.
Just like a year ago, preseason qualifying will be intense. The roster is 15 strong with many of those competitors capable of cracking the team’s top five. The headlining returner is Drew D’Ercole, who raked in a slew of postseason awards following his fourth season at Concordia.
“I think we will have great depth again,” Muller said. “We brought in four pretty solid golfers who all have the capability of playing in our top five. We bring back basically everyone except Ivan Yabut of the guys who had varsity experience last year. Those returners are all looking for a top five spot. It’s going to help the competitiveness of our practices to have that depth. Guys know they have to bring it every day in practice to travel in the top five.”
No doubt the loss of Yabut is significant, but the Bulldogs bring back four golfers who played more than 20 rounds throughout the 2022-23 season: D’Ercole (74.2), Justin Webert (76.2), Jacob Woodmancy (76.5) and Jake Hagerbaumer (77.6). As a freshman, Jake Richmond shot an average of 77.3 in 17 rounds. Collectively, they paved the way for a school record team season scoring average of 300.3, eclipsing the standard of 305.1 from the previous campaign.
In other words, this is a program that keeps improving year after year. Concordia ultimately finished in fifth place in the GPAC this past spring. The disappointment came from the feeling that the Bulldogs did not fully seize the opportunity at the conference tournament as they trailed Doane, Northwestern, Midland and Morningside in the team standings. In a show of its potential, Concordia defeated Doane, 10-8, in the annual Bulldog-Tiger Cup. Way back at the beginning of the spring, the Bulldogs outplayed both Doane and Midland at the Doane Spring Invite and placed second out of 15 groupings.
“We have to stay patient,” Webert said. “I think we know we’re good enough. We beat Doane last year when we played one-on-one, and they won the GPAC. I think we know it’s there – we just have to stay patient and not get frustrated when things aren’t going your way. Take it step by step.”
The Papillion, Neb., native Drew D’Ercole stands out as one of the top golfers in the history of the program. He made the decision to use his fifth (‘COVID year’) of eligibility and figures to pace the lineup at the top. He’s played in 67 career collegiate rounds with an 18-hole average of 76.3. With Yabut having moved on, the No. 2 spot could be held by a number of Bulldogs, such as Webert. The Lincoln Southwest High School alum immediately earned a spot in the lineup as a freshman and is heading into his third season with the Bulldogs. Both D’Ercole and Webert reached the round of 32 at the Nebraska Match Play Championship this past summer.
The depth of the roster is further bolstered by returners Gavin McWhorter, Josh D’Ercole and Taylor Johnson. Meanwhile, the freshman class includes Colin Aubuchon, Bret Brenneis, Jacob Dowd and Maxwell Fremarek.
In the opening week of the school year, the team has done its best to battle the heat while preparing for the season opening UC Ferguson Classic coming up next week (Aug. 28-29).
“With the start date getting pushed back this year, we were not able to bring in the team prior to the start of classes, so we’re doing everything we can this week to get as many holes in as we can,” Muller said. “We’re trying to get 54 holes in. The weather hasn’t exactly cooperated with the heat. We’re playing five different golf courses and trying to get the best sample size we can, and we’ll take our top seven from qualifying down to Oklahoma City. The guys who don’t make the top seven will play at Mount Marty (Aug. 29-30).”
The competition will continue beyond August as the Bulldogs will navigate a fall schedule including seven total events (including JV tournaments). The complete spring schedule is yet to be announced, but the team can look forward to traveling to the Phoenix area during spring break 2024. As Muller says of the schedule, “It’s always nice to play some local events, play GPAC competition and figure out how you stack up with them.”
The goal is for Concordia to be at its best when the GPAC championships arrive in the spring. Webert and his teammates are thinking big. Says Webert, “I think as a team, if we can be in the final group on the last day of GPAC and have a chance to win, I would say that would be successful. For individuals, if we can have three or four in the top 15 or 20 like we did last year that would be pretty good.”
The 2023-24 men’s golf schedule can be found HERE. The Bulldogs are slated to be at their home course, Highlands in Lincoln, for the Blue River Invite on Sept. 5-6.