White Wins Russell Award

OTTUMWA --- An Indian Hills Community College golfer has won a prestigious national award.  William White, who just completed his sophomore season at IHCC, is the winner of the 2013 Jimmy Russell Award, given to the golfer judged to be the NJCAA’s Student-Athlete of the Year.

This is the fourth year that the Russell Award has been presented and it goes to the outstanding sophomore NJCAA golfer who exemplifies academic excellence, good citizenship and outstanding play in men’s golf over the course of his career.

White, who has signed to attend Northern Illinois University, wrapped up his career at Indian Hills earlier this month with an 11^th-place finish at the NJCAA National Tournament where he shot under-par rounds the last three days.  White had top-ten finishes in all four tourneys prior to the national meet, including a tie for medalist honors in the Augustana Invitational.  He was in the top-13 in nine of the ten meets he played his sophomore year.

“We were fortunate to have William represent Indian Hills golf in the classroom, in the community and on the golf course,” said IHCC coach Mike Hagen.  “He truly embodies what it means to be a student-athlete.”

The Jimmy Russell Award was created in honor of the Hall of Fame coach at Odessa College who was instrumental in starting the NJCAA National Golf Championship and won six national titles at Odessa.

One of White’s teammates at Indian Hills for the past two years, Ben Ludlam, will be heading to St. John’s University in New York in the fall after signing a letter-of-intent with the Storm.

Ludlam, like White, played on the Warriors’ 2012 national championship golf team.  He was given the Phil Mickelson Award as the top freshman golfer in the NJCAA after his first year at Indian Hills.

Ludlam and White will be joined in the Division I ranks next year by Indian Hills teammates Mitch Tucker and Connor Peck.  Tucker and Peck will play at University of Missouri-Kansas City and Kansas University, respectively.

“I’m excited for the next step in each of these young men’s golf careers,” Hagen said of his four golfers who will be moving on.  “While at Indian Hills, all four have worked extremely hard and represented our program in a very positive manner.”

Warriors, White Finish 11th at Nationals

Lubbock, TX -- Indian Hills' bid for a third straight national title came up short as the Warriors couldn't overcome a show start to the four-day NJCAA National Championship and finished in 11th place.

Indian Hills posted a team score of one over-par 289 in each of the last two rounds, but was done in by a 304 total in the opening round and a 296 the following day.  IHCC moved up the team leaderboard after finding themselves in 17th place midway through the tourney.

IHCC sophomore William White shot a two-under par 286 for the 72-hole event and wound up in a tie for 11th place,  mirroring his team's finish.  White's only round above par was the first one when he opened with a 74.  He followed with a 70 the next day and ended with back-to-back 71s, giving him three straight sub-par rounds to close out his two-year career.

Freshman Connor Peck was next for Indian Hills in a tie for 48th place with a  297 total.  After Peck came Ben Ludlam and Mitch Tucker, who, like White, were a part of the 2012 Indian Hills title team.  Ludlam fought back from a first-round 80 to tie for 54th place.  He got steadily better as the tourney went on, shooting 75, 73 and 70 over the final three days.

Tucker tied for 77th place; his best round of the event was an even-par 72 in the third round.

Rounding out the IHCC scoring was Kevin Workman, who also overcame a bad round -- a second round 86 -- to post rounds of 73 and 75 the last two days.

Central Alabama won the team title by one stroke over runnerup Odessa (TX).

The Warriors will lose all five of the golfers that coach Mike Hagen took to the national tourney.  The lone freshman in the group, Peck, has signed a letter-of-intent to attend Kansas University in the fall.  Tucker is headed to University of Missouri-Kansas City, White to Northern Illinois and Ludlam will go to St. John's in New York.

NJCAA Division I National Championship

Team Scores (top 11)

1. Central Alabama  299-296-272-283=1150; 2. Odessa  291-297-278-285=1151; 3. Scottsdale  295-298-276-286=1155; 4. Johnson County  296-289-287-285=1157; 5. Brevard  299-297-276-287=1159; 6. Iowa Western  295-289-291-288=1163; 7. Wallace State  298-286-290-290=1164; 8. New Mexico JC  303-296-279-297=1165; 9. Midland  291-284-301-291=1167; 10. McLennan  294-284-292-299=1169; 11. Indian Hills  304-296-289-289=1178

Indian Hills Scores

T11. William White  74-70-71-71=286; T48. Connor Peck  75-75-74-73=297; T54. Ben Ludlam  80-75-73-70=298; T77. Mitch Tucker  79-76-72-75=302; T107. Kevin Workman  76-86-73-75=310

Workman, Warriors Finish Second at Districts

Newton, Kansas -- Indian Hills couldn't hold onto a slim one-stroke lead after the second round and finished second to Dodge City CC in the NJCAA District III Championship this week at the Sand Creek Station Golf Course.

The Warriors took the single-shot advantage over Dodge City into Tuesday's final round, but shot a team total of 317 over the last 18 holes and wound up four strokes out of first place.  Hutchinson CC was a distant third. 

Indian Hills did have the lowest one-round team total, their 291 in the opening round.

IHCC sophomore Kevin Workman had a solid tournament and finished one shot away from medalist honors.  Workman fired a two-under par 70 in the opening round and followed with a 73 and a 78 to end up one shot behind medalist Mariano Rossi of Dodge City.

The Warriors had four other golfers finish in the top 10.  Connor Peck was 4th, Mitch Tucker 5th, Colin Pearson tied for 7th and William White tied for 9th place.

Next up for Indian Hills is the NJCAA Division I National Championship in Lubbock, Texas May 14-17.  The Warriors have won the national title each of the last two years and have to be considered one of the main contenders going into this year's meet.

NJCAA District III Championship

Team Scores

1. Dodge City  297-297-312=906; 2. Indian Hills  291-302-317=910; 3. Hutchinson  305-303-315=923; 4. Iowa Western  300-306-329=935; 5. Johnson County  312-311-324=947; 6. Garden City  311-324-338=973; 7. Coffeyville  317-325-342=984; 8. Barton County  324-326-365=1015; 9. Colby  334-327-357=1018; 10. Kansas City Kansas  335-340-352=1027; NW Kansas Tech  406-414-428=1248

Indian Hills Scores

2. Kevin Workman  70-73-78=221; 4. Connor Peck  72-77-78=227; 5. Mitch Tucker  74-74-80=228; T7. Colin Pearson  78-74-79=231; T9. William White  74-78-80=232; T17. Ben Ludlam  71-77-87=235