NORMAN, Okla. -- For the first time in the over 50-year history of Christopher Newport men's golf, the Captains are number one. The Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches Poll listed the Captains on top of the final national rankings of the Fall season after Christopher Newport capped a tremendous semester with two tournament victories and three top-five finishes.
The Captains vaulted from No. 5 in the October 28 poll, and received nine first place votes while collecting 413 total points in the national rankings. Emory garnered five first-place votes and 401 points to finish second in the poll, while Methodist and Wittenberg each picked up one first-place vote and are ranked No. 3 and 4. Rounding out the top-five with 344 poll points is Piedmont, while Saint John's (MN) earned the final first-place vote and is ranked 16th.
Senior
Alex Price leads Division III according to the GolfStat individual rankings, with an adjusted scoring average of 69.86 and an impressive 25-0 record against players ranked in the Top 50. As a team, the Captains are No. 1 in the GolfStat ratings as well, with an adjusted scoring average of 72.45 to edge out Methodist with a 72.59 mark.
The Captains are on a record-shattering pace this season with wins at the NCAA DIII Fall Preview and O'Briant Jensen Memorial amongst talented fields in both events. CNU also finished fourth among 17 teams at the Gate City Invitational and 11th out of 24 teams at the Golfweek Division III Invitational. Ten of the eleven rounds played by the Captains this fall were sub-300 scoring performances, including a season-best 283 in the final round of the season in which three CNU starters finished under par.
Christopher Newport reset the program standard for a 36-hole tournament at the O'Briant Jensen Memorial by seven strokes. With an Even par 568, the Captains finished at par in a multi-round tournament for just the second time in program history.
Under the direction of head coach
Jamie Coleman, the Captains will make the turn on the season as the top-ranked team in Division III for the first time. CNU will return to action on March 5-7 at the Savannah Invitational, kicking off a spring season that currently features four regular season tournaments.
Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches' Poll - November 18
|
Rank
|
University (First Place Votes)
|
Points
|
Previous
|
|
1
|
Christopher Newport (9)
|
413
|
5
|
|
2
|
Emory (5)
|
401
|
1
|
|
3
|
Methodist (1)
|
399
|
2
|
|
4
|
Wittenberg (1)
|
364
|
3
|
|
5
|
Piedmont
|
344
|
4
|
|
6
|
Carnegie Mellon
|
336
|
6
|
|
7
|
Redlands
|
316
|
7
|
|
8
|
Willamette
|
293
|
8
|
|
9
|
Illinois Wesleyan
|
285
|
10
|
|
10
|
Washington & Lee
|
270
|
9
|
|
11
|
Oglethorpe
|
248
|
12
|
|
12
|
LeTourneau
|
209
|
14
|
|
13
|
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
|
195
|
11
|
|
14
|
Guilford
|
172
|
13
|
|
15
|
Texas-Dallas
|
168
|
16
|
|
16
|
Saint Johns (MN) (1)
|
165
|
20
|
|
17
|
Pomona-Pitzer
|
161
|
15
|
|
18
|
Sewanee
|
125
|
22
|
|
19
|
Huntingdon
|
118
|
18
|
|
20
|
Greensboro
|
95
|
17
|
|
21
|
Trinity (TX)
|
91
|
21
|
|
22
|
California Lutheran
|
56
|
18
|
|
23
|
RPI
|
46
|
24
|
|
24
|
Aurora
|
43
|
23
|
|
25
|
East Texas Baptist
|
33
|
25
|
Others receiving votes: Rochester (24); Gettysburg (19); Dallas (18); Babson (14); Berry (14); Kenyon (14); Rhodes (13); Hamilton (10); Bethel (9); Skidmore (9); Gustavus Adolphus (8); Wisconsin-Eau Claire (6); Centre (5); Luther (4); Southwestern (TX) (4); Averett (2); Franklin & Marshall (2); Concordia (TX) (1); Lynchburg (1); Mary Hardin-Baylor (1); NYU (1).
