Men’s Golf Tops in the First 2023-24 NCAA East Region Ranking; GBC Wins at WCU After Final Round Canceled

4/2/2024 12:00:00 AM

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Goldey-Beacom, the two-time reigning Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Men's Golf champions, is tops in the first NCAA East Region ranking.

This comes after the news in November that the Lightning earned the top spot in the first 2023-24 Spikemark/Clippd East Region ranking. Goldey-Beacom is one of four teams from the CACC in the NCAA regional rankings with Post second, Dominican (NY) sixth and Wilmington (DE) 11th.

Goldey-Beacom also was declared the victor at the Edwin Cottrell Invitational in West Chester, PA after Tuesday's scheduled final round was canceled. It is the squad's third tournament victory of the academic year.

The NCAA ranking no doubt was buoyed by the Lightning gaining four, top-three finishes that included the conference title and a second-place showing at the Husky Invitational. GBC at the CACC Championship shot a second-round 284, tied for the second-best round in program history, to win by one shot.

With the program's fifth CACC crown comes another berth into the NCAA Regional, the squad's third consecutive and 10th overall. That will take place May 9-11 in Wheeling, WV.

Individual success usually comes with team success and that is the case for junior Hunter McGee (Almonte, ON). The four-time All-CACC pick, 2021-22 CACC individual champion and 2020-21 CACC Player of the Year went to a playoff at the conference championship and closed the fall with three top-10 showings.

McGee is ranked eighth in the East Region and averaged 72.5 over 12 fall rounds.

Junior Pablo Saenz Avila (Bogota, Colombia) also is a four-time All-CACC selection and also is having another solid campaign with four top-10 finishes. He was second at the West Liberty Invitational, fourth at the Husky Invitational and ninth at the CACC Championship.

Saenz Avila is ranked 13th in the East, averaging 73.1 over 12 fall rounds.

Junior Camilo Samur (Bucaramanga, Colombia) has been picked to the All-CACC Team each of the last two seasons and is having another stellar campaign. He closed third at the CACC Championship one week after ending second at the West Liberty Invitational.

Samur is 16th in the East with a 73.2 average over 11 fall rounds.

Junior Adrian Bonilla (Almeria, Spain) has notched a trio of eighth-place finishes and remains a key for the Lightning, ranked 24th in the East. Sophomore William Kelly (Auckland, New Zealand), listed 23rd in the East, was 18th at the CACC Championship after ending fifth at the West Liberty Invitational and before closing third at the Husky Invitational.

The NCAA rankings are the ones used to determine at-large berths into the NCAA Regionals for the squads who did not win their conference championship.

Goldey-Beacom on Monday shot 286 to edge West Chester by one shot. Bonilla shot a personal-best 68 to end tied for third and just two shots off the lead. McGee was tied for fifth with 71, Saenz Avila closed tied for 10th with 73, Samur ended tied for 13th with and Kelly was tied for 23rd with 77.

2023-24 NCAA Division II Men's Golf East Region Ranking

1. Goldey-Beacom
2. Post
3. Saint Thomas Aquinas
4. Assumption
5. Adelphi
6. Dominican (NY)
7. Saint Anselm
8. Southern New Hampshire
9. Bentley
10. Franklin Pierce
11. Wilmington (DE)

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