By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

The Hutchinson Community College men's golf team is coming off its best three-year cycle in team history entering the 2023-24 season, which begins on Monday.

Over that three-year span, the Blue Dragons captured back-to-back NJCAA Division I national championships and finished fifth last season – the only three Top 5 national finishes in program history.

Unlike the past few seasons where a majority of the previous team returned, Hall of Fame head coach Chris Young has just a handful of returnees back from 2023 and seven freshmen to build this year's team.

"This is the first time in three years that we have a lot of unknowns heading into a season," said Young, whose team plays its first fall tournament on Monday and Tuesday at the Sam Proal Insurance Invitational at Walking Stick Country Club in Pueblo, Colorado. "I'm starting five freshmen in the lineup this week.

"I think we are really a talented group, but we are a group that doesn't cross the 'T's' and dot the 'I's' yet. They are very talented from 1 through 10, but we don't know how to win yet. It's going to be fun to watch."

The Blue Dragons start the fall season ranked No. 5 in the Bushnell/GolfWeek NJCAA Division I Coaches' Poll. Defending national champion Indian Hills is No. 1, followed by Odessa, Midland, New Mexico Junior College and Hutchinson. Defending Region VI Tournament champion Dodge City is ranked No. 8.

The lineup Young will use this week in Colorado will be redshirt freshman Louis Ross (Bristol, England) and true freshmen David Raskinskas (Ascot, England), Micah Blowers (Colchester, England), Harry Malin (Bogner Regis, England) and Charlie Box (Leicester, England). Returning sophomore Louis Galvin (Kinsule, Ireland) will play as an individual player.

The Blue Dragons return four players from last year. Ross played in the fall season in 2022, but wasn't able to play in the spring season.

Ross averaged 75.58 strokes per round in 12 rounds last fall.

Also back for the Blue Dragons are sophomores Galvin, Marco Anderson (Pretoria, South Africa) and Brooks Sauder (Emporia).

Galvin played the No. 3 bag for the Blue Dragons in their fifth-place finish at the 2022 NJCAA Championships at Sand Creek Station in Newton. Galvin tied for 32nd with a 72-hole score of 5-over 293. Galvin posted a pair of even-par 72s in the middle two rounds. He was an honorable mention All-Jayhawk Conference performer last season.

Anderson, who joined the team before the second semester last season, was the Blue Dragons' No. 5 bag at nationals. He was also a second-team all-conference performer after finishing eighth in the KJCCC individual standings. Anderson tied for 60th at the national tournament last season after shooting 11-over 299. Anderson had low rounds of 73 twice in the national tournament.

Sauder didn't qualify last season to play in the five-man team scoring, but played several tournaments as an individual player last season.

"When those guys got here (as freshmen), they didn't know how things were supposed to go," Young said. "We didn't have vocal leaders last year, especially off the golf course. These guys had to figure it out on their own.

"These guys are now leaders in the weight round and they are making sure the others are getting to class on time and getting to practice on time. Those guys came in this year with the idea that we are chasing rings."

Other freshmen on the roster this season are Teddy Peterson (Omaha, NE) and Kenton Thissen (Davenport, IA).

The Blue Dragons' other fall tournaments will be the Big 'O' Tournament in Elkhorn, Nebraska on Oct. 2-3, the Grier Jones Shocker Classic at Sand Creek Station on Oct. 9-10 and the NJCAA National Preview on Oct. 23-24 in Hobbs, New Mexico.