Season Review: Young Men's Golf squad off to great start in 2019-20 campaign

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's golf team was the youngest squad in the Ohio Athletic Conference in the 2019-20 season.

The young Polar Bears were off to a solid start before the Ohio Athletic Conference and the NCAA canceled the season on March 12 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Northern had posted a 17-15 record with eight of its top 10 golfers being freshmen or sophomores.

Freshmen Alex Cabungcal (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) and Josh Steyer (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) led ONU in scoring with 76.3 and 77.5 stroke averages, respectively.

Sophomore Nolan Kimberly (Zanesville) was third at 78.3, sophomore Andrew Slusher (Covington) was fourth at 78.4 and sophomore Jared Hernandez (Van Wert) was fifth at 79.6.

"We were off to a great start despite being the youngest team in the conference," ONU head coach Chad Bucci said. "This is the deepest team in recent history. We had five players averaging in the 70s for the first time in school history. I was really excited to see what they could do this year."

The OAC did not give out All-Conference awards due to the abbreviated season, but senior Ryan Tatman (West Chester/Lakota East), junior Ethan Smith (Chillicothe/Southeastern) and sophomore Ethan Hartman (Harrison) all received Academic All-Conference accolades.

Steyer (Sept. 9) and Slusher (Oct. 15) and earned OAC Golfer of the Week honors.

The Polar Bears posted a 15-15 record during their fall season, which included a victory at the Lourdes Invitational and a second place finish at the Defiance Fall Invitational.

Northern went on its annual spring break trip to Florida and swept Ryder Cup-style matches from North Central (Ill.) (18-5) and Muskingum (24.5-16.5) to improve to 17-15.

ONU posted a 7-1 record in its last four competitions of the season.