Golf Selected for NCAA East Regional
Bearcats headed to Auburn for May 15-17 tournament

After a briliant 2002-03 season which saw the team win more tournaments than any Division I program in the entire country, Binghamton has been rewarded with its first NCAA Division I Championship berth. The Bearcats, coached by John Affleck, will head to Alabama for the East Regional, hosted May 15-17 by Auburn University. The regional is one of three 54-hole tournaments held across the country. A total of 27 teams and six individuals were selected for each regional, with the top 10 finishers at each site advancing to the NCAA Finals, May 27-30 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Binghamton had to earn its bid the hard way, since the America East Conference champion doesn't receive an automatic berth to the national tournament. Affleck's team had to perform right up to the final week of the regular season, and was selected with an at-large bid. The Bearcats are seeded No. 25 at the regional, behind fellow New England region powers Rhode Island (No. 23) and Yale (No. 24), but ahead of Liberty and Jackson State. The regional features two of the top three teams in the nation (No. 1 Clemson and No. 3 Wake Forest), and 10 teams ranked in the Top 25, according to the latest Sagarin/GolfWeek.com rankings.

In Affleck's final spring after 15 years as varsity coach, the team is sending him out in style. Among the seven tournament titles won by the Bearecats are the program's first America East Championship, its first ECAC crown and a huge win at the Rhode Island Invitational that likely sealed the team's NCAA bid. In 13 tournaments during the fall and spring, BU went 157-19-3, for a win percentage of 88.5%. More importantly , the team turned it on in a critical four-week stretch of the spring when the region's contenders all gathered to battle head-to-head. On April 5-6, Binghamton went to Yale and defeated the host Bulldogs, fellow NCAA qualifier Central Connecticut State and 19 other teams - finishing runner-up to UConn. One week later, BU traveled to Providence, R.I. for the New England Championship and again beat Yale, Central Connecticut and 15 other teams - finishing just four strokes behind Rhode Island. The team then padded its resume with a title at Rhode Island, beating the highly-touted Rams on their home course.

Ironically, even with standout senior captain Adam Fuchs (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-JFK) at the top of the lineup, this team owes much of its succcess to its freshmen Brad Moulton (Orangeville, Ontario) and Kevin Crawford (Lockport, N.Y.). The pair were major contributors down the spring stretch drive. Moulton shared medalist honors at Rhode Island, and has the team's best stroke average in the spring (75.7). Crawford pushed his way into the starting lineup in the spring, and proceeded to average 76.8 in five tournaments. He placed among the top-15 in each of the final four events. Fuchs, meanwhile, shot 72-73 to finish second at the America East Championship, last Monday and Tuesday at En-Joie GC. That would've won the tournament, if it wasn't for junior teammate Joe Kunz (Webster, N.Y.), who shot 73-70 to capture medalist honors for the third time this year. Kunz, a junior college transfer who won the NJCAA Division III individual championship last spring for Monroe CC, also tied for third at Yale. Junior Keith Hendrickson (Syosset, N.Y.) took his turn at the New England Championship, carding rounds of 75-72 to tie for fifth place.

The NCAA bid continues a tradition of national tournament selections at all three divisional levels. Affleck's Division III squads went to the NCAA Championship seven straight years - a streak that was only interrupted by BU's move up to Division II. No problem. In its first year up a level, Binghamton earned a bid to the 1999 NCAA Division II Championship. Now, in just its second year at the highest NCAA level, Affleck's team has again reached the national limelight. The veteran head coach has been appropriately honored along the way. Affleck has earned the rare distinction of being named Coach of the Year at all three NCAA levels. He was a five-time regional honoree at Division III (1992-96), and won again at Division II (1999). This spring, Affleck was selected as the America East Coach of the Year.