NCAC 20th Anniversary

Edited: 5/26/04

ALLEGHENY’S RATHFON, OHIO WESLEYAN’S POLING
HEAD NORTH COAST’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY GOLF TEAM

CLEVELAND -- Allegheny’s Ben Rathfon and Ohio Wesleyan’s Chad Poling head an impressive list of standouts named to the North Coast Athletic Conference’s 20th Anniversary golf team. Rathfon and Poling are the only two members of the squad still actively competing.

Rathfon, a junior, has earned first team All-NCAC recognition in each of his seasons so far. He earned the Bob Nye Award as tournament medalist as a freshman in 2002, and last spring was voted the Dick Gordin Award as the conference’s Player of the Year. Poling, a senior, has earned all-conference recognition in each of his three seasons to date. He has twice finished second at the conference tournament (2001 and 2002). He has won four tournaments already this season.

Six Dick Gordin Award winners were selected to the 10-man squad. In addition to Rathfon, they are Ohio Wesleyan’s Ryan Casciani (1999) and Jason Job (2002), Allegheny’s Joe Salvaggio (1996) and John Wiler (1995), and Wooster’s Jeff Nimeh (1997 & 1998).

Five Bob Nye Award winners were selected. Allegheny’s Mike Gasper (1996), Job (2001), Rathfon (2002) and Bobby Ruffing (1995 & 1997), and Ohio Wesleyan’s Jay Tilton (2003).

Ohio Wesleyan and Allegheny are the only squads to have won North Coast titles in the past 10 years. The Gators have claimed six and the Bishops the other four. Ohio Wesleyan has won the past two championships and nine overall. The Bishops finished in a tie for third at the NCAA Division III Championships last spring. The Gators have earned 26 straight invitations to the NCAA tournament, the second-longest streak in Division III golf.

The North Coast Athletic Conference will be announcing 20th Anniversary teams in all 22 sports during the 2003-04 academic year. The NCAC was founded in 1983 and began competition in the fall of 1984. The North Coast’s commitment to equity, its broad base of athletic programs and an unwavering insistence on excellence in academics has served as a model for conferences throughout the country.

The NCAC’s 20th Anniversary teams were selected in each sport through balloting by present and former coaches and administrators. Athletes who participated in conference competition between the fall of 1993 through the spring of 2003 were eligible for selection.