By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

The memories of last May in Lubbock, Texas, are still quite vivid for the Hutchinson Community College men's golf team.

The memory of Harry Crockett holing out on the 72nd hole to complete a nine-stroke victory for the Blue Dragons over Odessa College to win the program's first NJCAA national championship in men's golf.

The memory of Ben Partridge and Crockett playing high-level golf in a four-hole playoff to decide the 2021 NJCAA Individual national champion.

The memory of Partridge sinking a birdie putt to win that individual national title.

"We've won nine Jayhawk Conference championships and eight Region VI championships, but we've never won a national championship. So it's been a very exciting three months," said veteran Blue Dragon head coach Chris Young, the 2021 National Coach of the Year who begins his 22nd season at Hutchinson next week. "We did a lot of celebrating and we have done a couple of really neat things in the community.

"But now it's time to move on and try to win another one."

The Blue Dragons start the fall portion of their 2021-22 season on Monday and Tuesday at the Missouri Southern Fall Classic in a 54-hole tournament at the Shangri-La Country Club in Monkey Island, Oklahoma. The Dragons will play four fall tournaments, concluding with the NJCAA National Preview in Odessa, Texas the first week in November.

Hutchinson opens the season ranked No. 1 in both the NJCAA and Bushnell/GolfWeek Division I polls.

Young will have the luxury of returning three NJCAA All-Americans and five overall sophomores overall from the national championship team.

Highlighting the returning players are first-team All-Americans Partridge and Crockett.

Partridge was the 2021 Golf Coaches Association of American Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year and Phil Mickelson National Freshman of the Year winner.

Partridge had a season stroke average of 71.2 over 29 rounds last season. Over the final three tournaments in 2021 – the KJCCC Championship, District III/Region VI and the NJCAA Championship – Partridge averaged 70.8 strokes per round with 7 of 10 rounds shot under par.

In addition to winning the NJCAA Individual title, Partridge won the NJCAA National Preview, also at The Rawls Course in Lubbock – site of the 2021 national championships. He was Jayhawk Conference regular-season co-champion with teammate Charlie Crockett.

Partridge had two tournament titles, six Top-3 finishes and placed in the Top 10 in 9 of 10 total tournaments this season.

Crockett earned two individual tournament championships last season – the District III/Region VI crown and at Jayhawk Conference No. 2. Crockett also had five Top-3 performances and eight Top-10 finishes in 2020-21.

Crockett had a season-stroke average of 71.6 for the season with 17 rounds under par. Over the final three tournaments of 2021, Crockett shot an average of 70.1.

Crockett placed third in the 2021 Jayhawk Conference regular-season standings. Crockett was first-team All-KJCCC, All-Region VI and a first-team All-American. He was also a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year award.

"That makes you rest easy at night," Young said. "Ben and Harry are exceptional individuals and fun to be around. When you bring new kids in and you have the caliber of golfers of those two and (Cameron Rios-Ceballos), they teach the younger kids how to practice and what is expected of them by me."

Cameron Rios-Ceballos turned out to be the quiet hero during the 2021 National Championship at the Rawls Course. With rounds of 72, 71, 76 and 72, Rios-Ceballos earned NJCAA third-team All-America honors with a 13th-place finish. Steady throughout the championship, Rios-Ceballos started Hutchinson's championship-clinching surge over the final six holes. With the Dragons' double-figure lead over Odessa down to just three strokes after 12 holes, Rios-Ceballos had key birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to help Hutchinson reclaim its momentum.

"If you go back and look at all the scores, Cam was the player who carried us," Young said. "He was the third cog. He was really consistent all week. He was huge in the last round when he birdied 13 and 14 to really get the ball rolling in the right direction."

Also returning for the 2021-22 season are Charlie Hilton, who was the alternate for the 2021 NJCAA championship and Topeka product Addison Alonzo.

Young is very high on his freshman class with international players Dominic Clemons and Finn Nelson and in-state players Blake Saffell (Wellington) and Brock Southern (Hutchinson High).

Clemons and Saffell will be part of the five-player group that will figure into the team scores at Missouri Southern. Nelson won qualifying as the individual player.

Clemons has played at the international level for England since age 14. Saffle is a highly decorated Kansas Junior golfer with a pair of appearances on the Kansas-Nebraska Junior Cup team and a pair of Top 10 individual finishes in the Kansas Class 4A state tournament.

"Dominic is the guy I call, the next guy in line," Young said. "We've had Charlie Crockett for a couple of years, then Ben and Harry are here as sophomores. Dominic is the guy who can carry the torch into the future. He will be playing in the two spot, which is where he qualified.

"I also am expecting big things from Blake. He's a very capable golfers and I'm excited to see all the freshman play and see what they can do."