FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Miami University will host the Mid-American Conference Championships (Apr. 30 – May 1) at Sycamore Hills Golf Club located in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The two-day, 54-hole event will feature the eight MAC schools which sponsor men's golf – Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Toledo.
A Jack Nicklaus signature designed course opened in 1989, Sycamore Hills (7,253-yard, par-72) is home to a championship golf course, recently redesigned by Nicklaus Design. Jack Nicklaus, already declared “Golfer of the Century,” will surely go down in history as one of the world’s greatest to have ever played the game.
The tournament will begin Friday with tee times starting at 8:30 a.m. For more information, visit our Championship Central page at
https://bit.ly/3t5WIg6
Team-By-Team Previews
Ball State
Ball State nearly won a MAC title at this same site three years ago. The Cardinals held the lead into the final round that year before giving way to perennial favorite Kent State down the stretch. One member of the lineup from that week will be there for Ball State again this time around. Jack Cunningham, a freshman then, is a senior now and one of six players the Cardinals are taking to Sycamore Hills. Starting with the championship two years ago, teams can bring six players and are permitted to substitute between rounds. Cunningham is joined by Joey Ranieri, CJ Jones, Tyler Green, Joey Wiseman and Sterling McIlravy. Ranieri leads the squad this year with a 74.58 scoring average, while Jones tied for third the last time the MAC Championships were contested in 2019 at Club Walden.
Bowling Green
Less than two weeks ago, by shooting a one-under par 839 to finish runner-up at the Dayton Flyer Intercollegiate, Bowling Green recorded its best 54-hole team score since winning the Tom Tontimonia Invitational in October of 2019. Nick Hofland was in contention all week, finishing solo third by shooting five-under par. Hofland's round-two 65 was Bowling Green's low round for the event. Ian Mackenzie-Olson and Brandon Rattray each finished T-8, respectively. Mackenzie-Olson's round-three 68 was BGSU's second-best round. Rattray, who was making his Bowling Green debut at the event, was very consistent throughout, posting rounds of 71-69-70. Dylan Fitchet and Tom North nearly broke into the 60's, as well. The pair of Falcons each carded a season-low 70. Fitchet opened the tournament with a 70, while North's tournament was highlighted by a 70 in round two.
Eastern Michigan
The Eagles enter the tournament with the 13th lowest four-player team scoring average in program history at 297.1. Overall, Eastern Michigan has finished in the top-five at a pair of tournaments this season, including most recently a fifth-place showing at the Git-R-Done Husker Invitational, April 16-17. Individually, senior Cougar Collins leads EMU with a 73.71 average. Collins, who is ranked 515th by Golfweek, has seven rounds of par-or-better this season to go along with top-15 finishes. Senior Ty Celone is still on pace for the lowest career scoring average in program history at 73.24, just 0.06 strokes ahead of 2007 MAC Champion Graham Hill's standard of 73.3 set in 2005-08.
Kent State
The Flashes lineup will consist of Josh Gilkison, Cade Breitenstine, Julien Paltrinieri, Chris Vandette, and Jared Wilson. Breitenstine has led the Flashes in almost every tournament this season, earning four top-5 finishes, including winning the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate. Through seven events, he holds a 70.01 scoring averages. Gilkison has a scoring average of 71.56 through seven events, his best finish being tied for ninth at theMobile Bay. Paltrinieri has competed in seven events averaging a 72.41 score, while Vandette holds a 72.67 average through seven tournaments. Wilson has competed in five tournaments and had his best finish at the Boilermaker Invitational, tying for second.
Miami
The Miami University golf team carded a 54-hole score of 888 to finish ninth at the Hawkeye Invitational, hosted by the University of Iowa. Leading the way was junior Charlie Nikitas, who finished tied for 12th with a 54-hole score of 215. After carding a 73-72 on Saturday, Nikitas fired a 70 on Sunday morning. Cam Solomon finished tied for 42nd with a score of 224 (73-76-75). Jack Mortell and Jack Katarincic finished 44th and 46th in the 66-player field with scores of 225 (77-74-74) and 226 (75-74-77). Rounding out the Miami lineup was Jack Ebner's 229 (78-75-76).
Northern Illinois
Senior Jordan Less is NIU's leader in scoring average at 73.59 this season heading into the MAC Championship. Less has been NIU's top finisher in each of the last three events with four top-30 finishes in six tournament this spring. On April 11, Less carded a season-low round of three-under par 69 to finish fourth at the Aggie Invitational at one-under. He followed that up with a 12th place showing at the Hawkeye Invitational. In 2018, Less tied for 29th at the MAC Championship which was held at Sycamore Hills that year. The Huskies have been tested this spring against some of the best college golf teams in the nation. Five teams ranked in the top-50 of the Golfstat rankings were at last weekend's Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State. At the Aggie Invitational earlier this month, NIU faced off with seven of the top-40 teams in the country including top-ranked Oklahoma.
Ohio
The Bobcats are taking aim at winning their first MAC title since 1980. Ohio is coming off their best finish of the 2021 spring season to date as they closed out the regular season portion of the schedule by tying for second place with Valparaiso with a combined team total score of 886 (+34) at the Wright State Invitational, which was contested over two days (April 18-19) at Heatherwoode Golf Club in Springboro, Ohio. Four Bobcats finished in the top-30 of the tournament. Senior Zach Mandry led the way for Ohio, taking seventh with a 216 (+3) while senior Zach Crawford finished 10th with a three-round total of 219 (+6).
Toledo
The Rockets have won three league crowns in school history in 1964, 2002 and 2004. Toledo also posted runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2015. Barend Botha is leading the Rockets with a 72.9 scoring mark. Duncan McNeill became the fifth Rocket ever to capture MAC medalist honors in 2019. He joined Ciaran McAleavey (2008), Brad Heaven (2004), Mike Stone (1992) and Tim Hirt (1979, 1980, 1981). Tim Rice tied for first place in 1997. Toledo finished third at the 2019 MAC Championships.
