Moon Township, Pa. – According to a poll of Horizon League head coaches, the Robert Morris University men's golf team has been picked to finish 10th in its inaugural season in the league, as announced by the conference on Thursday afternoon.
Wright State was picked as the unanimous favorite, earning all 10 first-place votes and 100 points. Oakland (86), Cleveland State (72), Youngstown State (63), and Northern Kentucky (57) rounded out the top five, followed by IUPUI (42), Purdue Fort Wayne (42), Green Bay (36), Detroit Mercy (32), and RMU (20).
RELEASE: Wright State Men, IUPUI Women Voted Unanimous 2021 #HLGOLF Favorites
The Colonials, led by 20th-year head coach Jerry Stone, bring to the Horizon League a roster that features nine players who played at least one round in the shortened 2019-20 campaign. In its last full season back in 2018-19, RMU won three events, captured the Northeast Conference (NEC) championship, and advanced to the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional.
One of two Colonials that featured in that championship-winning side is graduate student Kyle Grube, as he took advantage of the NCAA waiver granting an extra year of eligibility to 2020 senior spring student-athletes. Grube is a two-time Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-America Scholar and made the All-NEC First Team in 2018-19. He enters his final season ranking fourth all-time at RMU in stroke average (75.70) and rounds par and under (10). The Indiana, Pa. product paced the team in stroke average in 2019-20 with a mark of 73.50, which slots second in the program's single-season annals.
Chase Miller, a junior who also garnered GCAA All-America Scholar recognition in 2019-20, ranks sixth all-time in stroke average at 76.08. Miller was one of two players who played in every event last season and finished third on the team in stroke average (75.14). That was an improvement off an impressive freshman campaign in 2018-19, one that saw him net six rounds at or below par, a pair of top-five finishes, and three top-10 finishes. The Bernville, Pa. native won his collegiate debut tournament in September of 2018, firing a program-record 210 (-3) to capture the Northern Kentucky Fall Collegiate Classic.
Also returning for RMU is one fourth-year senior (Nicholas Mihalo), three redshirt sophomores (Cole Chase, Jimmy Ellis, Chris Sabol), and four true sophomores (Logan Hess, Parker Johnson, Josh Nagy, Alex Seelig). The Colonials also added a trio of freshmen in Skyler Fox (Beaver Falls, Pa.), Xavier Schwarz (Virginia Water, England), and Deven Stewart (Freeport, Ill.).
Under Stone, RMU has won 23 competitions and a pair of NEC championships in 2015 and 2019. The Colonials have excelled in the classroom as well, earning eight straight GCAA Team Academic Awards and four consecutive GCAA President's Special Recognition designations for posting a team grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
RMU beings its spring season on March 20-21 when it competes in the Carpetbagger Classic, held at Worthington Manor Golf Course in Urbana, Md. and hosted by Colgate University.
| 2021 Spring #HLGOLF Preseason Poll Results |
| 1. |
Wright State (10 first-place votes) |
100 |
| 2. |
Oakland |
86 |
| 3. |
Cleveland State |
72 |
| 4. |
Youngstown State |
63 |
| 5. |
Northern Kentucky |
57 |
| T6. |
IUPUI |
42 |
| T6. |
Purdue Fort Wayne |
42 |
| 8. |
Green Bay |
36 |
| 9. |
Detroit Mercy |
32 |
| 10. |
Robert Morris |
20 |
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