WARREN, Ohio - Nestled in the northeast corner of the Buckeye State, situated less than 20 miles from the Pennsylvania state line and serving as the Trumbull County seat, Warren, Ohio is in the crosshairs of collegiate golf during the last full week of May as twenty teams and 108 golfers are set to convene at the prestigious Avalon Lakes Golf Course (par-72, 7,287-yards) to decide the 2023 NCAA DII Men's Golf National Champion. For Southern Arkansas, it's a maiden trip to the Mecca of Division II golf and it's been a year-long journey echoed with "Why not the Muleriders?"
20 Teams, 1 National Champion
The Muleriders are one of 20 teams in the field vying for the DII National Championship and are one of six from the Central/Midwest Regional; one of two six-bid regionals in 2023. Grand Valley State, Missouri S&T, Maryville, Washburn and Great American Conference foe Harding join SAU in Warren after the six teams were the last standing in the 20-team regional field in Winona, Minnesota.
Additional teams in the field include a trio of programs from the Atlantic/East Regional in Davis & Elkins, Fayetteville State and Indiana (PA). West Florida, Barry, Nova Southeastern, North Georgia, defending national champion Lee and Georgia Southwestern make up the half dozen squads representing the South/Southeast Region. Since 2000, teams currently in the tournament field from the South/Southeast Region have combined for eight national championships with another ten national titles coming from teams that did not advance to the 2023 national tournament. Since match play began in 2011, a team from Florida has won the national title eight times.
Five teams represent the South Central/West Region. Sonoma State, Western Washington, Chico State, Oklahoma Christian and Simon Fraser all convene in Warren as representatives of the division's largest geographical region.
Eight of the top ten ranked teams nationally will be in action in addition to three other teams ranked inside the top 25 of the final Bushnell/Golfweek DII Coaches Poll.
One hundred and eight golfers (100 team-associated student-athletes + eight individual golfers) will compete to become the individual national champion which will be crowned following Wednesday's final 18 holes of match play qualifying.
The Journey to Northeast Ohio
The first tee shot on Monday will give the Muleriders an official start to a program record 11th tournament of the 2022-23 campaign. In 29 rounds, SAU owns a sub-300 average at 298.17 and has finished in the top eight in every tournament with the exception of one.
Through mid-March, SAU logged one top five finish: a third-place showing at its own Arkansas Collegiate on October 10-11. Since the Broncho Invitational, when SAU finished 11th of 15 teams, the heat has been turned up and the Muleriders have enjoyed dancing in the flames.
Brown's squad scorched a plethora of in-region foes at the DBU Men's Classic (4th of 14; 1st of 7 in-region), the Natural State Classic (2nd of 10), a program-best finish at the GAC Championship (2nd of 9) and a program-best finish at the NCAA DII Central/Midwest Regional (T5 of 20; T2 of 10 in-region).
They stared down history and third-year head coach Neriah Brown's squad didn't blink. Southern Arkansas, which entered the final round of play at the NCAA DII Central/Midwest Regional from The Bridges Golf Course in Winona, Minnesota six shots back of the advancement line, equaled its round two performance with a 291 over its final 18 holes to force a three-team playoff with Great American Conference foes Henderson State and Harding for the final two berths into the national tournament. When the smoke cleared in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, it was the Muleriders that posted a two-under in the sudden death playoff to punch the program's first-ever ticket to the NCAA DII National Championship.
With Southern Arkansas, Henderson State and Harding all equal at +29 for the tournament and straddling the cut line following score reporting in round three, bags 1-5 from the three league foes took to holes No. 14 through No. 18, respectively to decide the fifth and sixth advancing teams.
Junior Connor Harrington sank a birdie on the par-4, 391-yard No. 16 and true freshman Luke Cote notched a birdie on the par-4, 413-yard No. 17; a hole he tripled bogeyed in round three and the Muleriders used pars from junior Caleb Miller (par-4, 394-yard No. 14) and senior Brendan Little (par-4, 378-yard No. 18) and a one-over from sophomore Logan McDonald (par-3, 208-yard No. 15) to shoot -2 and match Harding in the playoff as both teams beat Henderson State by three strokes.
That effort has earned the Muleriders 54 more holes to battle for a shot at match play and a national title.
The Mulerider 5
Four Natural State products and a collegiate rookie from Canada will make history Monday morning as the five Muleriders will become the program's first to tee off in the national championship.
Southern Arkansas will be paired with Georgia Southwestern as well as five individual golfers representing Colorado-Pueblo, Lynn, Findlay, Le Moyne and Texas A&M-International. Little opens round 1 action at 9:20 (ET) from Hole #1 with Mulerider bags four through one and their fellow groupings to follow in 11-minute increments.
No. 1 Bag | Caleb Miller, junior from Cabot, Arkansas
(RD1: 10:04 tee time)
2023 NCAA D2 PING All-Central Region
2023 All-GAC First Team
Miller, who was most recently named an NCAA DII PING All-Central Region selection, enters the national tournament following an impressive effort in the Central/Midwest Regional. He placed second overall, the best regional finish ever by a Mulerider, with a 54-hole total of 212 which included an NCAA postseason program record 68 in round two. Miller leads the team in average score, score vs. par and finish percentage.
No. 2 Bag | Logan McDonald, sophomore from Bryant, Arkansas
(RD1: 9:53 tee time)
2023 All-GAC Honorable Mention
McDonald surged toward the end of the regular season logging a pair of top four finishes with his best 54-hole scores of the season. That has carried over into the postseason as he placed tied for 12th at the highly-competitive GAC Championships and earned a top 20 finish in the 108-golfer field at the Central/Midwest Regional. He averages 74.1 and has produced 27 counters.
No. 3 Bag | Connor Harrington, junior from Magnolia, Arkansas
(RD1: 9:42 tee time)
2023 All-GAC Honorable Mention
2023 GAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete
Harrington has been the definition of consistent and reliable. And as of late…clutch. His score has counted in 28 of 29 rounds played this spring and he carries a 75.5 scoring average as a top 50 golfer in the Central Region. Big birdies late over his past two tournaments (GAC Championship and Central/Midwest Regional) are a key reason why the Muleriders are playing the last full week of May.
No. 4 Bag | Luke Cote, freshman from Regina, Saskatchewan
(RD1: 9:31 tee time)
There's not much time to get accustomed to the collegiate game when you're thrown in the mix as a rookie. That doesn't matter, Cote didn't need the time anyway. A mainstay in the lineup over the team's last three tournaments, Cote has provided six key counters behind a pair of top 20 finishes. His biggest effort came in the three-team regional playoff as he birdied the par-4, 413-yard No. 17; a hole he triple bogeyed that same day in round three.
No. 5 Bag | Brendan Little, senior from Benton, Arkansas
(RD1: 9:20 tee time)
A resilient effort over the course of a successful career, Little will cap his collegiate career on the biggest stage. He owns a 77.6 scoring average this season with 15 counters, including all six postseason rounds. His efforts on the course are as important as the veteran mentality he provides the squad off of it.
Speak Softly and Carry a Big Driver
Soft spoken, but never underestimated and a leader of men. That's Neriah Brown. A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Brown, who is not too far removed from representing the Muleriders as a player, has taken the program to heights not previously reached in just his third year overseeing the Muleriders.
"The guys like the course. It's tough and it's going to be a battle all week but we feel that plays to our advantage with our home course being one of the hardest courses in the country in Mystic Creek," noted Brown. "We have embraced the underdog role as we've been kinda counted out all year but we made it here and we are eager to show what we can really do."
Live Coverage
Fans can follow live scoring of the first three rounds of action at Team - NCAA DII Championship - Stroke - 2023-05-22 (golfstat.com). Visit www.MuleriderAthletics.com for post round results and recaps as well as all Mulerider Athletic social media channels to follow the 2022-23 Muleriders' run to a national title.
