Monday, May 1, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – With four individual titles this season, Simon Fraser junior Chris Crisologo was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year, joining a trio of Western Washington seniors to headline the 2016-17 GNAC Men’s Golf All-Conference Team.

Crisologo put together his most dominant season to date for his second consecutive GNAC Player of the Year award, finishing in the top 10 at seven of nine tournaments. The junior also finished in the top three among GNAC athletes at all but one event this year, before wrapping up the season with titles at the NNU Invitational and the GNAC Championships.

Crisologo leads the conference with a 71.2 strokes per round average and has carded scores under par in 16 of 25 rounds. At the GNAC Championships, he shot a 5-under-par 208 to capture his first conference title with an even-par 71 in the final round to win by two shots.

Western Washington head coach Luke Bennett was named the GNAC Coach of the Year by his peers after leading the Vikings to five consecutive top-five team finishes and the eighth GNAC team title in conference history. Now in his fourth season at the helm of the WWU men’s golf program, Bennett has continued the Vikings’ streak of NCAA Super Regional appearances to 19.

Montana State Billings was represented by Caleb Stetzner who was named both the GNAC Freshman of the Year and a Second Team All-GNAC selection. He was the lone underclassman to receive all-conference recognition after he registered a team-best 73.7 strokes per round average this season. He shot six rounds under par, helping him to four top-10 finishes in his first season of collegiate golf.

Western Washington was the most well-represented program on the first team with seniors Chris Hatch, Brett Johnson and Jeffrey Marcum each receiving recognition. For Hatch, it was his third first team selection, and he was also a second-team selection as a sophomore in 2015. Hatch took second place at the GNAC Championships with a score of 3-under-par 210. He recorded pars on each of the last three holes to give the Vikings the one-stroke lead that earned them an eighth conference title in program history.

Marcum took sixth place at the GNAC Championships with a score of 4-over-par 217 for his team-best sixth top-10 finish this season. Marcum proved himself to be one of the West Region’s top competitors, placing in a tie for fourth at the CBU Men’s Invitational with a score of 2-over-par 218.

Johnson averages 73.9 shots per round, which ranks fifth in the conference. He had his best result of the season in the fall, tying for second place at the WWU Invitational with a score of 4-under-par 212. He was just a shot behind medalist Crisologo. At the GNAC Championships, he shot a 3-over-par 74 in the first round to keep the Vikings within striking distance before their big third-round comeback.

Concordia also had two seniors named to the First Team All-GNAC in Dylan Cramer and Ryan Melnychuk. Cramer had a strong finish to the season, leading the Cavaliers to a pair of second-place finishes at tournaments. He placed fifth at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational, carding a tournament-leading 2-under-par 70 in the final round. Two weeks later at the GNAC Championships, he was fast out of the gates with a pair of even-par 71 rounds before finishing in a tie for eighth place with a 6-over-par 219.

Melnychuk was the Cavaliers’ statistical leader throughout the season, averaging a team-best 73.9 strokes per round. He tied for first place at the Concordia Invitational with teammate Tanner Huddleston with a score of 2-under-par 214. He also tallied a team-best four top-10 finishes and nine rounds under par.

Three golfers from Saint Martin’s were named to the second team in Ryan Pickthorn, Andrew Raab and Austin Spicer. The trio helped the Saints finish just two strokes behind first place at the GNAC Championships. Concordia’s Jarred Gomez was also named to the Second Team All-GNAC along with Simon Fraser’s Kevin Vigna, a four-time all-conference honoree, and Stetzner.

2016-17 GNAC MEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM