May 26, 2023, PLYMOUTH, Ind. – Grand Rapids Community College's golf team finished in 19th place at the NJCAA Division II National Championship on Friday after four rounds of play at the Swan Lake Resort Black Course.
"The results were short of what we wanted, but the Raiders were proud to represent the community of Grand Rapids and GRCC," coach John Forton said. "We never gave up at any point, it just wasn't our week."
Kirkwood Community College, from Iowa, dominated the competition, with all four rounds under 300, and finished eight strokes ahead of Parkland College to win the national title.
After rounds of 314, 319, and 325, GRCC finished play with a score of 322 strokes on Friday, finishing 19th of 22 teams.
Its total of 1,280 was four strokes better than Muskegon Community College and 62 strokes better than Glen Oaks Community College, who also represented Region XII in the national tournament. The team also had 24 total birdies.
Freshman Drew Harrington (81-75-79-80) was the team's most consistent golfer during the week and led the team with a score of 315.
Conner Oman (74-87-83-77) led the team with eight birdies and finished with a 321.
Brad VandenHout (81-83-79-80) had seven birdies and finished with a 323. Sam Foss (79-80-84-89) and Ty Marchlewki (80-81-88-85) respectively finished with scores of 332 and 334.
The team won the MCCAA Western Conference championship this year, marking its 14th straight title. It also won the NJCAA Region XII championship for the ninth time and third time in its past four seasons.
Harrington was the Western Conference medalist and received All-Conference and All-Region honors. He also was named the Western Conference Freshman of the Year.
Marchlewski was also a member of All-Region, All-Conference and All-Freshman teams; finishing seventh in the conference, 12th at the MCCAA Championship, and fourth in regionals.
Oman and VandenHout finished out their sophomore years in good fashion.
Oman placed second at the MCCAA Championship to earn himself All-MCCAA honors for the second consecutive year and finished tied for 13th in the region and 12th in the conference.
VandenHout made the All-Conference team after finishing fifth in the conference. He also was tied for 14th in the MCCAA Championship and tied for 23rd in regionals.
Foss also finished out a great career at GRCC. He finished tied for 13th at regionals, tied for 14th at the MCCAA Championship and also was a participant in last year's national championship.
This story was reported by Ben Brown.