Northwestern Men's Golf Fall Season Review

By Matt Bos, Northwestern Sports Information Director

ORANGE CITY, Iowa — The Northwestern College men’s golf team completed its fall season at the second GPAC Qualifier hosted by Hastings at Lochland Golf Club. The Raiders tied Morningside for fourth place with a 318, 11 shots in back of second round winner Doane (307). Nebraska Wesleyan (313) and Hastings (314) finished second and third, respectively. Sophomore Ryan Kiewiet (Grundy Center, Iowa) finished second with a two-over 74 (38/36), one stroke in back of medalist Ryan Harris (Doane). After two rounds, Northwestern is third overall with a 36-hole score of 616 (298/318) and trails first place Nebraska Wesleyan (609) by just seven shots. Neil Malenke (Orange City, Iowa) is the top NWC individual and is tied for third with a 150 (68/82), three shots in back of overall leader Drew Taylor (Nebraska Wesleyan). Kiewiet is alone in seventh place with a 152.

The Raiders had an outstanding fall season under second-year head coach Aaron Aberson. They finished in the top four in all six events they played, earning two team championships and recording two second place finishes. Coach Aberson’s squad also set the record for the lowest team score, shooting a 278 in the second round of the Siouxland Invite. They also posted two more scores that are among the top five lowest of all time. “Overall, we felt like we had a successful fall season,”commented Aberson. “The highlight of our fall season was breaking the school record at our home course.”

Northwestern was led by freshman Jay Monahan (Spencer, Iowa), who posted a fall scoring average of 74.8 and finished in the top 10 in three events. He won the Siouxland Invite with a one-under 141 (71/70) and was one of three Raider individuals who earned GPAC player of the week honors. Kyle Stanek (Bellevue, Neb.) finished second on the team with a 74.8 scoring average, finishing in the top 10 in four events. He earned GPAC player of the week honors after finishing second at the Hastings Invite with a three-under 69. Malenke was third on the team with a 75.1 average and earned GPAC player of the week honors after posting a four-under 68 in the first GPAC Qualifier, matching the second lowest score in the program’s history. Malenke , along with Stanek, carded another 68 (-3) in the second round of the Siouxland Invite. Michael Clark, a junior from Spencer, Iowa, won the Mount Marty Invite and finished fourth on the team with a 76.3 average. Ryan Kiewiet recorded a 76.7 scoring average, fifth best on the team.

“We put ourselves in a good position to make a run at the conference championship in the spring,” said Aberson. “There are two very good teams ahead of us so we will have to play our best to catch them.” Northwestern will resume play in the spring.