Spring 2022 ICCAC Men's Golf Preview
With warmer weather on the horizon, the ICCAC Men's Golf teams are preparing for the start of the spring golf season. Several teams in both Division I and II come into the season riding program highs from last season looking to build on their success.
Indian Hills and Iowa Western are the only two ICCAC schools in the Division I level of men's golf, and both look to have successful seasons.
Indian Hills comes into the spring season currently ranked at No. 6 in the NJCAA. The Warriors are coming off a 7th place finish at the Division I NJCAA Men's National Tournament last season.
The team is tipping towards the younger end this season but played very well during the fall season with several of their golfers Frank Vucic finishing in second place at the Fall National Preview. His teammates Damian Osner and Ryan Thomas also finished in the top 15 as well.
Michael Wetrich assumes head coaching duties in his first year at Indian Hills.
Iowa Western also comes into the season highly touted in Division I; the team is currently ranked 10th in the NJCAA. The Reivers, also with a first year head coach, finished just behind the Warriors at the Division I NJCAA men's golf championships, coming in 8th.
Derrick Cedar replaces long time leader Derrick Thompson, who took a position at NCAA Division II Central Oklahoma.
The team will return several key golfers from last season including Thomas Craig and Gustav Sjoberg. The team has shown improvements in consistency, winning 3 of 3 tournaments the team appeared in during the fall golf season.
In Division II Iowa Central comes into the season at the top of the ICCAC Coach's Poll in the ICCAC after a fourth place finish at the Division II NJCAA men's Golf Championships. The Tritons return many of the golfers from last year's squad including All-Americans Austin Erickson and Tomas Ribeiro. This year's team finished first or second in all tournaments they competed in the fall and will look to continue their success into the spring season.
Following closely behind Iowa Central are the Kirkwood Eagles who are coming off a fifth place finish last year at nationals. The Eagles played very well during the fall season, including program-record setting performances from JD Pollard.
Pollard, a returning first team All-Region selection last year set a new program 18-hole low score of 66. The team took home four tournament wins during the fall season with a solid combination of returning golfers and young talent.
Kirkwood is the reigning Region XI Champion of the last six seasons dating back to 2013-14.
In the middle of the pack, Hawkeye will be competitive this season returning two national qualifiers in Tom Bell and Austin Reynolds.
Bell finished second individually at the fall national preview. The bottom half of the lineup will be young but could find a lot of success.
Northeast will be led this season by Ty Heimes who had several high placings during the fall season. He will be leading a young team this season but will compete in the conference to try and build on the program's recent success.
DMACC will also be in the middle of the pack of the ICCAC this upcoming season, but the team showed improvement through the fall season with several strong placings in tournaments. One golfer to be on the watch for is returning All-American Tyler Sansgaard who posted several 18-hole rounds in the 60s.
Iowa Lakes will be led by a trio of freshmen but have strong leadership from a pair of sophomores. The last national qualifiers the Lakers had were in 2017 when Jordan Henry and Matt Bennett advanced. They hope to end that drought this season.
Southeastern, Southwestern and NIACC will all be looking to improve on their standings in past years. Southeastern comes into the season with several new recruits who showed improvements during fall ball. The team will be looking to have the best conference finish the program has ever had in 2022.
Southwestern has a lot of new talent coming into the season including Aidan Rooke and Robin Persson. Rooke earned an athlete of the week selection during the fall season while he and Persson made their way into the school's record book for their low rounds.
NIACC will have a lot to prove this season if they want to return towards the top of the conference where they once were 4 or 5 years ago. The Trojans last won the region in 2011.
Check out the 2022 ICCAC Men's Golf Preview as some teams open up this weekend.
2021 Division I Regional Championship Results
2021 Division II Regional Championship Results
Division I:
Division II: