The defending MIAC champion Gustavus men’s golf team is looking forward to its upcoming fall season just 15 weeks removed from finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships last spring. The Gusties return two All-Americans from last year’s team that claimed its conference-record 23rd MIAC title.
Gustavus lost two seniors to graduation from last year’s squad, but Head Coach Scott Moe’s team has the talent lined up to make another run at the conference crown. Seniors Neil Johnson and Luke Benoit are the leading veterans on a squad that overcame struggles with consistency last season to win the rain-shortened MIAC Championship by two strokes.
Johnson, a River Falls, Wisconsin native, earned all-conference and All-America honors last season. He tied for second at the conference competition in the fall and tied for fourth individually at the national championships in the spring. It marked the third consecutive season that Johnson has earned all-America honors.
Benoit, from Faribault, Minnesota, missed last year’s fall season when he was studying abroad. By the time the spring season rolled around, he had emerged as one of the squad’s top golfers. Benoit tied for 12th place individually at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors for the second time in his career.
Moe, last season’s MIAC Coach of the Year, has a wealth of talent beyond his two All-Americans. Senior Brent Borgstahl earned all-conference recognition last fall by placing in the top five at the conference championships.
The Gusties report back to campus on August 28 to begin fall practice. Gustavus begins competition on September 13 at the two-day St. John’s Invite. The Gusties then play in two more invites before the MIAC Championships on October 3 and 4.