Soydara Earns 1st Team All-American Honors, Spartan Men Finish 7th at National Tournament
M State freshman Ellia Soydara earned 1st Team All-American honors, finishing fourth overall individually at the NJCAA Division III National Golf Championship at Chautauqua Golf Club in Chautauqua, New York. Soydara shot an 80 in the final round for a total of 322 (80-81-81-80). The Spartan Men shot 331 in the final round to finish in seventh place.
“Congratulations to Ellia on being our first Spartan All-American women’s golfer in modern history,” said M State Head Coach Jason Retzlaff. “She played so steady under pressure and wowed many of the people in New York with her tremendous driving ability. This honor is something Ellia has earned with a lot of hard work, dedication, and love of golf. She made history for our women’s golf program this week. We are so thankful she is in our program and look forward to even better things next season.”
Trinity Ahing of Sandhills CC earned individual national champion honors with a 4 day 300 (74-73-75-78). Oxford College of Emory earned the team championship with a 4 day total of 1546.
Ellia Soydara hits her tee shot on the par four 11th hole on Friday. (Photo taken by Jennifer Soydara)
Leo Stepan tees of on the par three 8th hole on Friday. (Photo taken by Jeff Haukos)
Ellia Soydara with her 4th place flag and 1st team All-American honors. (Photo taken by Jeff Haukos)
Sandhills won the Men’s team championship with an 1147, setting a new tournament record and breaking the previous low total by 21 shots. Ben Read of Sandhills was the champion with a new record score of 277 (72-70-67-68), 11-under par.
M State shot a 4 day total score of 1108 (330-326-321-331). Leo Stepan was the low Spartan scorer in the tournament with a 315 (80-79-77-79), ending the season with the Spartans lowest individual scoring average of 79.2.
In the final round Friday, Stepan and Joel Quam turned in rounds of 79 to lead M State. Quam finished with a 4 day score of 326 (82-83-82-79); Mikey Vall had a 329 (82-82-80-85), Braxton Kerstein a 340 (87-82-82-89) and Riley Stromlund a 345 (86-86-85-88).
“For our men, it was a tough and rainy day that we couldn’t quite get and sustain momentum,” said Coach Retzlaff. “Joel had an excellent round as his short game was excellent. He made a great par save on the last hole to shoot 79. As he has all year, Leo was a leader for us today as well. It was such a pleasure making the trip with this team. Our play was up and down this week, but the effort was tremendous.”
Spartan Men and Women National Participants Team Photo (Left to Right: Head Coach Jason Retzlaff, Mikey Vall, Joel Quam, Ellia Soydara, Leo Stepan, Braxton Kerstein, Riley Stromlund, Asst Coach Jeff Haukos)
Complete results of the championship can be found here: https://jccjayhawks.com/events/njcaa-stats
Men's Team Results:
1.Sandhills CC (Pinehurst, NC) - 292 (Day 1) + 284 (Day 2) + 286 (Day 3) + 285 (Day 4)= 1147 2.Georgia Military College (Milledgeville, GA) -301 + 293 + 289 = 883 3.DuPage CC (Glen Ellyn, IL) - 323 + 315 + 305 + 305 + 309 = 1252 4.Jamestown CC (Jamestown, NY) - 318 + 311 + 326 + 309 = 1264 5.Butler County CC (Butler, PA) - 321 +314 + 322 + 324 = 1281 6.Onondaga CC (Syracuse, NY)- 327 + 316 + 322 + 325 = 1290 7.M State (Fergus Falls, MN) - 330 + 326 + 321 + 331 = 1308 8.Nassau CC (Garden City, NJ)- 330 + 325 + 338 + 326 = 1319 9.RCSJ Gloucester (Sewell, NJ) - 352 + 345 + 331 + 340 = 1368 10.Terra State CC (Fremont, OH)- 355 +347 + 327 + 344 = 1373 11.Holyoke CC (Holyoke, MA) - 433 + 424 + 403 + 418 = 1678
“We are so thankful for the contributions Mikey Vall and Joel Quam have made to our program for multiple seasons,” added Retzlaff. “They are awesome young men that will be greatly missed next season. It was also great having Leo Stepan for this season. He had a great year on and off the course as he led us in scoring average and also graduated with his technology electrician degree. We wish him well. Riley and Braxton also had very good freshman seasons and we look forward to what next season could bring for them.”
