Smith Repeats as Titan Men's Golf "MVP"

8 June 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - For the third straight season, senior Billy Smith was chosen as the “Most Valuable Player” for the Illinois Wesleyan University men’s golf team.

Smith (Champaign, Central HS), who shared the honor last year with Chad Golembeck and was sole MVP in 2002, averaged 75.8 strokes over 20 rounds and tied for fifth at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championships, won for the fourth straight season by IWU.

Smith was the Titans’ low scorer in five of nine tournaments and fired his season-best 70 in the first round of the Big Blue Classic on April 16. In his four-year career, Smith had a stroke average of 77.4 in 66 rounds.

Golembeck (Petersburg, Porta HS), for the third time, and Smith, for the fourth time, were all-conference selections. Golembeck, who tied Smith for fifth in the CCIW tourney, was second on the 2004 team with a 77.0 average in 14 rounds and, in his four seasons, Golembeck played a total of 60 rounds and averaged 77.8.

In another team honor, senior Bryan Noonan (Champaign, Centennial HS) won the “Titan Pride” award and junior Eric Hellman (Bloomington, Normal West HS) and Mickey Stefan (Chicago, Niles Notre Dame HS) were voted co-captains for the 2004-05 team.

Noonan averaged 77.5 in 11 rounds and was medalist in the two-day Big Blue Classic April 16-17 with scores of 75 and 69, which was the team’s low single-round score of the season.

Hellman, who was also an all-CCIW golfer with his eighth place finish in the league meet, was chosen as a Cleveland Golf Division III All-American Scholar based on his on-course golf accomplishments, academics, and high moral character.

Illinois Wesleyan became the first school to win four straight CCIW men’s golf titles since Carthage dominated the league from 1991 to 1994. Millikin won eight straight from 1983 to 1990 and Augustana won five in a row from 1978 to 1982.

Head coach Jim Ott awarded letters to seven players, four of whom return for next season. They are, with hometowns and high schools:

SENIORS - Chad Golembeck, Petersburg (Porta HS); Bryan Noonan, Champaign (Centennial HS); Billy Smith, Champaign (Central HS).

JUNIORS – Eric Hellman, Bloomington (Normal West HS); Mickey Stefan, Chicago, Ill. (Niles Notre Dame HS).

FRESHMEN – Ryan Gumbel, Seymour, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour HS; Drew Kepple, Tremont, Ill. (HS).

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206