October 18, 2007

(CLARION, PA.): The PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) will present its first team championship of the 2007-2008 season this weekend when eight golf teams travel to Wren Dale Golf Club in Hummelstown, Pa. to battle for the team title. The 36-hole event will be held at on Saturday October 20 and Sunday October 21.

Clarion, under ninth year head coach Al Lefevre, hopes to battle for the PSAC team title with a relatively young squad. The Golden Eagle five-man squad will have two veterans and three, first-time PSAC performers on hand this weekend.

Leading the way for Clarion are seniors Justin Moose (N. Huntingdon/Norwin) and Preston Mullens (Emporium/Cameron County). First time competitors include sophomores Nick Sanner (Markleton/ Rockwood) and Mike DeAngelo (New Castle/Shenango) and freshman Jared Schmader (Cooperstown/Maplewood).

Last year the Golden Eagles finished fourth of eight teams at Wren Dale Golf Club with a team score of 612, behind champion West Chester who won with a 603, IUP who was second with a 605 and third place Millersville who had a 611.

Clarion's coach Lefevre has had tremendous success leading the program. He has led Clarion to two PSAC Crowns (2002, 2005), plus three second place finishes (Fall 2004, Spring 2004 and 2003), after winning the crown in 2002. Clarion has also been to the NCAA Division II East Regionals each of the last 6 seasons, finishing as high as second in 2006 and third in 2005.

"We have played very consistent golf this Fall and that's a tribute to our guys," said Lefevre. "With a young team it will be interesting to see how we respond this weekend. We are certainly capable of winning, but so are a number of other teams. This could be one of the closest PSAC team championships in some time. I wouldn't be surprised if the title came down to the final holes."

In 2005 Clarion rallied on the second day to take the team title at Wren Dale Golf Club. Clarion shot a 604 to win the event, while IUP was second with a 608 and West Chester third at 621. Rounding out the field was fourth place Millersville (616), fifth place Slippery Rock (640), sixth place California (men) 646, seventh place California (women) 689 and eighth place Kutztown (women) 691).

In 2004 Clarion and Millersville tied for the team title with 620 scores. The tie breaker used the fifth player's score of each team to break the tie, and Millersville gained the title. Slippery Rock was third with a 622, IUP fourth at 626, West Chester fifth with a 627 and Kutztown's women scored a 647.

Four years ago at Hawk Valley Golf Club in Denver, Pa., IUP won the team title with a score of 599, while Clarion was second at 609, Millersville third with a 610, West Chester fourth with a 622, Slippery Rock fifth with a 630 and Kutztown's women's team was sixth with a 700.

Millersville won the team title in 2003 with a score of 625, only one shot better than Clarion who posted a 626, while IUP was third with a 633. West Chester finished fourth with a 634, Slippery Rock fifth at 655 and Kutztown's women sixth with a 741.

Clarion won the team title in 2002 with a 605 team score, six shots ahead of Millersville who had a 611 and IUP and West Chester who tied for third with a 616. Slippery Rock was fifth at 633 and Kutztown sixth with a 770.

Moose has been Clarion's #1 man for three years. Moose was 12th last year at PSAC's with a 154 (80, 74), but was the PSAC medalist in 2005 with a 150. He won medalist honors on the second playoff hole. Moose was also named the PSAC "Player of the Year" in 2005-06, he was third at the D-II East Regional in 2006 firing a 54-hole score of 225. In 2007 he placed 13th at the East Regionals with a 227. He was 23rd at PSAC's in 2004 with a 164. During the Fall 2007 season he has averaged 76.2 while playing 11 rounds. His low round was 72 at Wheeling Jesuit. His low career round was a 67 at Wheeling in 2006.

Mullens played at the PSAC's for the first tie a year ago and placed 16th with a 79-76, 155. At the East Regionals last Spring Preston was 17th overall with a score of 229 for 54-holes (79, 73, 77). In the D-2 Regionals in 2005 he opened with a 90, but bounced back for a 77, 78 on the final two days to help the Eagles. In the Fall 2007 season Preston is averaging 75.9 for 11 rounds and has a low round of 70 shot at Wheeling Jesuit.

Sanner, a sophomore, is in his first season playing golf for the Golden Eagles. He boasts the second leading team average at 74.2 in 11 rounds, and has a low round of 69 at the Glenville Invitational where he shot an even par 142 tying him for second with teammate Jared Schmader. Sanner also was second at the Westminster Invite with a 1-under 71 and earned PSAC "Golfer of the Week" for that performance.

DeAngelo, also a sophomore, is averaging 76.8 for the Golden Eagles in four rounds of play. He tied for 6th at the Hal Hansen Invite with a score of 152 (75, 77) and shot a 155 (77, 78) at the Robert Morris Invite 10 days ago. Mike won a playoff to gain Clarion's #5 spot for this weekend.

Schmader, a true freshman, burst on the scene this Fall to lead the Golden Eagles with a 73.9 average over 11 rounds. Named the PSAC "Golfer of the Week" on Tuesday, he placed third at the Robert Morris Invite with a 4-under par 140 at Montour Heights C.C. He shot a 74, 66. The six-under 66 was a new Clarion record. There had been five rounds of 5-under par shot by Clarion golfers including two by Anthony Tacconelli, two by Matt Guyton and one by Justin Scott. Schmader also tied for second at Glenville with a pair of 71's.

CLARION NOTES: Other top PSAC returnees from last year include West Chester Dominic Frassinelli and teammate Matt Sullilvan (3rd last year), IUP's Nic Milito (6th) and Gavin Smith (6th) and Millersville's Corey Gast (8th)... Gast could be the individual favorite going into he PSAC's since he was medalist at Clarion's Hal Hansen and at the Wheeling Jesuit Invitational... This year's PSAC Championship is the 52nd Championship dating back to 1957... A total of 8 teams will be playing this weekend - five men's teams and three women's teams... th emen's teams include West Chester, Millersville, IUP, California and Clarion... The women's teams include California, Kutztown and West Chester... The men's tees will play frmo 6,956 yards... The women tee off at a length of approximately 81% of the men's tees.... Team tie breaking rule this year ... In the event of a team tie for first, all five players from each team will play the first hole... The team with the lowest 4 combined scores wins ... If the teams are still tied, another hole is played until the tie is broken... The title won by Clarion in 2002 was Clarion's first PSAC Golf title since 1982 ... That team was coached by former A.D. Frank Lignelli, and featured captain Joe Boros who is currently the Head PGA Professional at Treesdale C.C. in Pittsburgh and a 1999 Clarion Sports Hall of Fame Inductee.