INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – SCAC Champion, Schreiner University, was officially selected as one of the 43 teams to participate in the 2024 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships by the NCAA Div. III Golf Committee, announced on Monday.
In addition, two individual SCAC athletes were selected to participate including Andrew Bennett of Centenary College and Jacob Mason of Trinity University.
A total of 221 participants will compete at the 2024 championships. Thirty-four conferences were awarded an automatic qualification for the championships. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final eight berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams. The six individuals are selected from the remaining players who have not qualified with a team.
Schreiner, the 2014 National Champion, is headed to the national championship for the third time in the last decade. The Mountaineers, ranked 15th in the country in the most recent Clippd rankings, earned the SCAC automatic bid into the prestigious tournament by virtue of winning the program’s third conference championship last month in wire-to-wire fashion.
The Mountaineers finished in the top-three in seven competitions this year, highlighted by top finishes at the Hardin Simmons Invitational, Schreiner Spring Shootout and the SCAC Championship. Individually, Schreiner is led by senior Jake Sitterle who is currently ranked 46th in the most recent Clippd rankings. Sitterle has produced three top-three finishes this season, highlighted by medalist honors at the Schreiner Shootout and heads into the NCAA Championships with an impressive 72.5 adjusted scoring average.
Bennett, a senior from Bossier City, La. and medalist at the 2024 SCAC Championships last month, is the first Centenary men’s golfer to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the Div. III era (2013-present). He enters the NCAA Championships at the ninth ranked player in the most recent individual Clippd rankings, posting three medalist honors and four top-three finishes this year. The No. 2 ranked player in the region, Bennett currently holds a 72.2 adjusted scoring average.
Mason, senior from Westminster, Colorado, is making his third straight appearance at the NCAA Championships, qualifying as an individual in 2022, participating with the Tiger team in 2023 and once again this year as an individual. The sixth ranked player in the country, with three individual medalist honors and six top-three finishes, Mason has an impressive 70.7 adjusted scoring average.
The championships, which will be held May 14-17 at Boulder Creek Golf Club, in Boulder City, Nevada and will be hosted by UNLV and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The team and individual champions will be determined after 72 holes of play or the conclusion of the last fully completed round. Forty-three teams and six individuals not on one of those teams will be selected to participate in the championships. After 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and top six individuals not on one of those teams.
Carnegie Mellon University is the defending national champion after firing a 1-under four-round total score of 1,151.
To see the complete field for the competition, click here.
