Final Results

By Frank Rajkowski & Ryan Klinkner '04 

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – Coming into this week's NCAA Division III national golf meet, junior Sam Berger (Waconia, Minn.) and his Saint John's University teammates felt they had a chance to turn some heads.

And the Johnnies certainly did just that, coming home with their best national finish in 12 years.

SJU actually spent most of Friday's final round either tied for the team lead or just shots back before going +9 on the final three holes and ending up in fifth place during competition at Champion Trace G.C. (par 72) in Nicholasville, Ky.

But it still marked the program's best performance at a national meet since tying for third in 2011 and the sixth in the top five.

"Overall, we're pretty pleased with the way we played," Berger said. "The last couple of holes today didn't go the way we wanted. But we knew what we were capable of coming into this tournament and we gave it a great run. 

"We're walking away pretty pleased with how things ended up."

SJU finished with a 289 (+1) Friday for a four-day total of 1,160 - one stroke ahead of No. 2 Christopher Newport (Va.) in sixth place. Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) won the team title with a four-round score of 1,151 (-1), shooting a 279 (-9) with three eagles on Friday. 

The Johnnies finished at +8, by far the program's lowest performance at a national meet. The next closest was the 2011 team, which ended up +28 over four rounds to tie for third place.

Berger led the way - recording a four-round score of 286 to finish in eighth place individually. He finished at -2, the program's best individual performance at the NCAA Championship. The previous record was Clinton Dammann's -1 that earned him medalist honors as SJU won the first of back-to-back titles in 2007. 

Berger led the tournament with a collective -11 on the event's 16 par-5 holes and tied for second with 18 birdies. His eighth-place finish marked SJU best at nationals since Dennis Granath '13 tied for seventh in 2011. 

"I felt pretty confident in my gameplan this week," said Berger, whose team entered the competition ranked No. 14 nationally, making them the only team not ranked in the top 10 to finish in the tournament's top seven. "I thought I executed it well. I feel pretty good about how I played."

The finish capped a triumphant return for Johnnies head coach Bob Alpers '82, who is in his 29th overall season heading the program and led SJU to previous national titles in 2007 and '08. But he stepped away prior to last season to focus on his duties as the school's athletic director, only to return prior to the start of this school year.

"I'm just really proud of these guys," Alpers said. "They played their tails off this week.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do today. We got off to a great start and we put ourselves in a position where we were tied at the national championship coming down the final stretch. Those last three holes can make or break you. And they bit us today. But overall, I couldn't be happier with the way we played."

Four of the five Johnnies who competed this week have earned medalist honors in at least one competition during the fall and spring seasons this school year. And balance was again key at nationals. Juniors Nate Loxtercamp (Richmond, Minn./Melrose Area) and Blake Schuler (Waconia, Minn.) each finished with scores of 293 (+5) to tie with five others for 28th place.

Sophomore Andrew Boemer (Eagan, Minn./St. Thomas Academy) finished with a score of 297 (+9) to tie for 44th and senior Thomas Gutzmer (Jordan, Minn.) ended with a score of 300 (+12) to join seven others in 56th.

"I think the competitor in all of us is disappointed at the way the last few holes got away from us," Loxtercamp said. "But when you look at all 72 holes this week, we feel really good about how things went."

The inclement weather in Minnesota meant the Johnnies got a late start on their spring schedule. Aside from a scrimmage on a trip to Arizona in March, SJU did not get outdoors until competing at the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational on April 7-8. Other teams in the field at nationals had been outside far longer, but Berger said that wasn't an issue for he and his teammates.

"It was a long winter with all the snow, but we kept our heads down and worked hard," he said. "We stayed focused and positive, and as soon as we got outside, you could see the progress we'd made. 

"We had a good spring and it all led into this week."