Saint John's golf starts its spring schedule this Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29, at the 36-hole Wartburg Invitational. Saturday's opening round begins with an 11 a.m. shotgun start, followed by a 10 or 10:30 a.m. shotgun on Sunday (depending on the overnight temperatures) at Prairie Links G.C. (par 72) in Waverly, Iowa. – Live Scoring

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's ended its fall schedule by tying for 11th out of 16 teams at Carnegie Mellon's Tartan Invitational back on Oct. 13-14 at Laurel Valley C.C. (par 72) in Ligonier, Pa.

Then-No. 6 Huntingdon (Ala.) won the tournament with a three-round total of 886 (+22), followed by a tie between then-No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan and then-No. 23 Rochester (N.Y.) at 889 (+25). The host Tartans, who were then-ranked No. 4 nationally, recorded the final day's best round at 286 (-2) to place fourth (+26, 890) and No. 1 Emory (Ga.) was fifth (+35, 899). 

SJU tied Babson (Mass.) for 11th at 914 (+50), six shots from seventh place. Three of the four teams behind the Johnnies were nationally ranked – then-No. 10 Kenyon (Ohio), then-No. 3 Oglethorpe (Ga.) and then-No. 19 Guilford (N.C.).

The 15-school field included 11 teams ranked in the latest (Oct. 10) Bushnell/Golfweek NCAA Division III Top 25 poll at the time.

Sophomore Gavin Grahek (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the Johnnies with a three-round of 221 (+5) to tie for seventh out of 87 golfers. Grahek jumped up seven spots after shooting an even 72 on the day thanks to four birdies and a 3-shot eagle on his final hole of the tournament. He tied for third in the tournament with a collective +2 on the par-4 holes, tied for fourth with 11 birdies and tied for eighth with a -4 on the par-5 holes.

He was five shots from Carnegie Mellon's Joshua Wang, who finished first after carding an even-par 216. Grahek finished ahead of golfers from 11 different nationally ranked teams, including three golfers that placed in the top 15 at last spring's NCAA Division III Championships. 

Freshman Austin Roloff (Minneapolis, Minn./Spring Lake Park) moved up 19 spots on the leaderboard to finish 50th and third among the competing Johnnies. Roloff started the day with a 3-shot birdie on hole 14 and added a pair of birdies later in his round to offset a few bogeys for a 75 (+3). He shot SJU's second-best round of the day. 

Senior Gus Briguet (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) dropped to 44th overall after carding a 7-over 79 on Tuesday. He collected a three-shot birdie on hole six with Roloff but was four shots over on the front nine.

Junior Nate Appelhof (Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace) dropped to 73rd with an 80 (+8) in Tuesday's round, while senior Ethan Kress (Woodbury, Minn.) carded an 81 (+9). Kress dropped 18 spots to finish 64th (+19) on the weekend.

SPRING BREAK IN ARIZONA: Although the Johnnies did not compete last week during their spring-break trip in Arizona, the team did play a number of impressive golf courses: the Wigwam Golf Club's gold course in Litchfield Park and the Desert Mountain Golf Course in Scottsdale (Chiricahua, Outlaw, No. 7 and Renegade). 

SJU'S LINEUP: SJU is scheduled to send two teams – 10 golfers – this weekend to Iowa.

SJU Red
1. Grahek
2. Fultz
3. Kress
4. Appelhof
5. Roloff

SJU Blue
1. Drake
2. Ehmke
3. Berlin
4. Timmons
5. O'Hara

WHO WILL BE THERE: The Johnnies and host Knights are scheduled to be joined this weekend by Coe (Iowa), Grinnell (Iowa), Kirkwood C.C. (Iowa), Loras (Iowa), Macalester, North Iowa Area C.C., Division II Upper Iowa, NAIA Viterbo (Wis.) and Wisconsin-Lutheran.