Corey Nagy won the Titleist Long Drive competition at the 2008 Western Refining all-America Classic. |
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Mid-Season Report: 49ers Golf Team Chasing 4th A-10 Title; 5th NCAA Bid
Dec. 9, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THE 49ERS:
The Charlotte 49ers, who have won three straight Atlantic 10 titles and earned bids to four straight NCAA Tournaments, have reached the mid-way point of the 2008-09 season. The 49ers went 16-43 in the fall, with one Top 5 finish. Still, Charlotte finds itself ranked in the top 60 of each major poll: GolfWorld/ GCAA Coaches: 34; Golfstat: 51; Golfweek/Sagarin: 59
Charlotte returned just two regulars from last year's team, which spent time as the consensus #1-ranked team in the nation and finished in the top 10 (T8th) at the NCAA Championship for the second straight year. Junior Corey Nagy, a two-time all-America and senior Stefan Wiedergruen, a former #1-ranked collegiate golfer who earned Golf World's 2007 Mid-Year Player of the Year, top the 49ers 2008-09 roster. Fellow senior David Rawluk had a busy fall, as did sophomore Will Golden. Freshmen Tyler Mitchell and junior Blake Stark both made a pair of starts while junior Ryan Wilson and freshmen Rafael Guerrero and Paul Ferrier each made their 49er debuts. In all, the 49ers used four lineups for the five different events with Nagy, Wiedergruen and Golden starting in each.
NINERS SEEK FIFTH STRAIGHT NCAA BID; FOURTH STRAIGHT A-10 TITLE:
The 49ers are battling or their fifth straight NCAA bid and school record fourth straight Atlantic 10 title. Last year, the golf team became the first program in school history to earn four consecutive NCAA bids. The 49ers have reached the 30-team NCAA Championship in each of the last three years and boast back-to-back NCAA Top 10 finishes: 2007: T3th; 2008: T8th.
Several 49er programs have won three straight league titles, but none have won four in a row. Both the women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams will be vying for their fourth straight titles, this year, as well.
NAGY STARS AT ALL-AMERICA CLASSIC:
Junior Corey Nagy (Charlotte, N.C.) tied for 4th at the 2008-09 Western Refining All-America Classic. The top three finishers: Mike Van Sickle, Trent Leon and Jorge Campillo are all ranked in Golfstat's top 10. Nagy also won the Titleist Long Drive competition at the event, becoming just the third player to crank one over 350 yards. Last year, at the same event, Nagy won the PING Putting contest. He becomes just the second player in event history to walk away with both skills competition awards.
NAGY ACES CORDEVALLE COLLEGIATE:
Junior Corey Nagy (Charlotte, N.C.) produced the first hole-in-one of his collegiate career, when he aced the 185-yard, 2nd hole with a six-iron in his final round at the CordeValle Collegiate in San Martin, Ca.. Nagy shot a four-under par 68 in the final round to climb into 21st-place, individually. It was his third top 25 finish of the fall season, not counting his 4th-place finish at the All-America Classic individual event.
NINERS FACE TOUGH SCHEDULE:
The 49ers faced a difficult slate in the fall of 2008, travelling to the prestigious TOPY Cup in Japan, battling predominantly top 25 fields at both the PING/Golfweek Preview and the Isleworth Collegiate. In addition, the Brickyard Collegiate and the CordeValle Collegiate also had numerous top 25 programs in their fields.
GREEN LOOKS FOR RIGHT MIX:
Three 49ers saw action in the starting lineup in each of the five fall events: Senior Stefan Wiedergruen, junior Corey Nagy and sophomore Will Golden. Six other players moved into the lineup at one point or another as Green used the same lineup only once. In all, in five different events, he used four different lineups.
CURL EARNS NATIONWIDE PRIVILEGES VIA Q SCHOOL FINISH:
By virtue of his 40th-place finish in the final stage of the PGA's National Qualifying Tournament (Q School) at PGA West in La Quinta, Ca., former 49er standout Jeff Curl eanred full privileges on the 2009 Nationwide Tour. Curl, an all-Conference USA selection and 49ers team MVP in 2000, shot 14-under par in the final stage of Q School. The top 25 finishers earned their PGA Tour cards. The remaining players in the top 75 earned Nationwide privileges. In all, 161 individuals reached the final stage.
49ERS AMONG NCAA ELITE::
Charlotte is one of nine teams that have reached the 30-team NCAA Championship in each of the last three years. Of them, five have boasted a top five finish:
Three Straight Years In NCAA Finals:
Arizona State
Auburn
Charlotte
East Tennessee State
Florida
Georgia
Oklahoma State
UCLA
Wake Forest
NCAA HISTORY:
Charlotte made its fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, in 2008, becoming the first team in 49ers history to reach four straight NCAA Tournaments. Prior to the first appearance in 2005, Charlotte had never been to the NCAA Tournament as a team. (Paul Carpenter, who led the 49ers to the 1996 Conference USA Championship, qualified as an individual in 1996.)
Year Regional Finish Championship Finish3-TIME A-10 Champs:
2008 NCAA East 7th NCAA Finals T8th
2007 NCAA East 7th NCAA Finals T3rd
2006 NCAA East 5th NCAA Finals 22nd
2005 NCAA East 17th
Charlotte won three straight Atlantic 10 Championships, in its first three years in the conference. In 2008, the 49ers won the title by 23 strokes. Head coach Jamie Green has been named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, each season. Charlotte was Conference USA runner-up in Green's first two years.
RECORDS COME TUMBLING DOWN:
Under fifth-year head coach Jamie Green, all 49ers team and individual school records have been broken. In fact, the single season record for Team Scoring Average has been broken and broken again in each of Green's five seasons.
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