In Review

Rochester returns to the NCAA Division III golf championships for the first time since 2014 when the Yellowjackets compete in mid-May at Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

The Yellowjackets earned the trip to nationals by winning the Liberty League championship at Timber Bank Golf Club near Syracuse at the end of April. Rochester captured the 72-hole event by 11 strokes (team total of 1,233 strokes) over runner-up Skidmore (1,244). The first two rounds were played in September at Timber Banks. Rochester won the fall event by 15 strokes and used that margin to hold off Skidmore in the spring.

This will be Rochester’s 23rd appearance as a team. The golf history dates to 1949 in Ames, Iowa. Rochester made 15 consecutive team appearances at the NCAAs from 1982 through 1996 and finished among the top 10 teams eight times, most recently in 1994 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when the Yellowjackets tied for eighth place out of 23 teams. Rochester’s best finish was sixth in 1993 at Torrey Pines near San Diego. Rochester hosted the 1985 NCAA championships at Monroe Golf Club and finished seventh.

Stephen Goodridge ’08 and Nick Palladino ’14 played in the NCAA championships as individuals. Goodridge won the 2006 NCAA title. Rochester heads into the championships with four golfers averaging below 80. Jack Mulligan ’20 averages 75.2 with six top 10 finishes in eight events, four of those in the top five. Jason Paek ’18 averages 77.5 with four top 10s. Daniel Luftspring ’17 (78.6) has three top 10s and Jona Scott ’17 (78.9) has two. Mulligan was the overall medalist for the Liberty League, shooting a five-over 149 for 36 holes in the fall and a nine-over 153 for 36 holes in the spring.

Forty-two teams and five individuals will converge on the Mission Inn Resort in Florida for the NCAAs. After 36 holes, the field will be trimmed to 18 teams and six individuals who are not members of an advancing team.

NCAA-bound, Too? The women’s outdoor track and field team has individuals ranked in the top 20 in Division III in six events. Kylee Bartlett ’19, the defending national champion in the indoor pentathlon, is ranked first in the heptathlon and 14th in the 100-meter hurdles. Anne Peterson ’17 is ranked fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Samantha Kitchen ’17 is ninth in the 1,500-meter run and 14th in the 5,000-meter run. Graduate student Catherine Knox ’16 is 16th in the 10,000 meters.

The men’s track and field team has two individuals in the top 50 in Division III heading into a couple of late-season meets: Brant Crouse ’17 (38th in 400 meters, 42nd in 400 hurdles), and Dan Nolte ’17 (50th in 10,000 meters).

Spring Shorts: Women’s tennis was ranked No. 35 nationally, No. 13 regionally. . . . Men’s tennis was ranked No. 18 regionally. . . . Softball finished 21–15 overall, 6–6 in the Liberty League, tied for fourth place. . . . Baseball won five of its last six in the Liberty League and finished in sixth place (9–11). . . . Lacrosse defeated Union, 7–6, on the road to clinch a Liberty League playoff berth and claimed the team’s first win in Schenectady since 1989. Rochester finished 9–6. . . . Rowing finished fourth at the Liberty League championships. At the state meet, the Yellowjackets took the first-year students from the first varsity eight and second varsity eight to form a novice eight crew. That boat did well in morning prelims, but heavy winds canceled the grand finals. —Dennis O’Donnell