Thursday, April 25, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – After earning their ninth conference championship, earning the conference’s first automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships and playing as the league’s dominant program all year, Western Washington leads the way in selections to the 2018-19 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Golf All-Conference Team.

Led by Player and Freshman of the Year Jordan Lee, the Vikings picked up six of eight first-team spots as voted upon by the conference coaches. In addition, Luke Bennett was named the conference Coach of the Year.

Joining Lee as first-team selections for Western Washington is sophomore Brody Bonfilio, senior Nick Sparling, senior Michael Butler, junior Ethan Casto and senior Cody Roth. Rounding out the first team is Concordia senior Jake Wiley and Simon Fraser freshman Isaac Lee.

Concordia sophomore Riley Killip was the coaches’ selection for Newcomer of the Year.

Jordan Lee led a Western Washington team that has won six of 10 tournaments on the season and placed in the top-four in all but one. Lee led the conference with a 72.1 stroke average and placed in the top-10 six times. Lee won the Concordia Invitational on Oct. 9 and finished in the top-10 of three of five spring tournaments, topped by a tie for second place at the GNAC Championships. He shot a low-round of 66 two times, most recently in the final round of the GNAC Championships.

Bonfilio earned his second consecutive first-team selection after winning the GNAC Championships. Having not played in a tournament since October, Bonfilio was a last-minute injury replacement in the conference tournament lineup for Butler. He proceeded to shoot two rounds of par or better, led by his 4-under-par 67 in the opening round, to finish at 3-under-par 210 for the one-stroke victory.

Sparling became a regular member of the WWU lineup after seeing limited action over the last two seasons. Finishing second in the GNAC with a 72.6 stroke average, Sparling put together five top-10 finishes. He tied for second place at the Notre Dame de Namur Argonaut Invitational in March and placed fifth in October’s Dennis Rose Invitational.

Butler kept pace with Sparling all year long, tying the fellow senior with a 72.6 stroke average and five top-10 finishes. Unable to compete at the GNAC Championships due to injury, Butler posted three of his top-10 finishes during the spring season. He placed fourth at the Notre Dame de Namur Argonaut Invitational and shot his low three-round score of 214 at October’s Concordia Invitational, where he tied for third.

Casto is fourth in the GNAC with a 72.6 stroke average and is a first-team selection for the second consecutive year. A top-10 finisher in four tournaments this season, Casto’s top performance to date came at the Mustang Intercollegiate on Apr. 8 and 9. In that tournament, Casto shot three under-par rounds to finish at 15-under-par 201, the lowest spring three-round score in GNAC history and the second-lowest all-time.

Roth is fifth in the league with a 73.0 stroke average and has managed five top-10 finishes on the season. He opened the year by tying for second at September’s Saint Martin’s Invitational and followed that up with a fourth-place finish three days later at the WWU Invitational. Roth tied for seventh at the GNAC Championships, his top finish of the spring season.

Wiley earned first-team selection after he tied with Lee for second place at the GNAC Championships, carding a 2-under-par 211. He shot two below-par rounds at conference, a 69 on the opening 18 holes and a 70 on the final 18. Wiley finished with a 75.2 stroke average and a pair of top-10 finishes.

Isaac Lee was sixth in the GNAC and led Simon Fraser with a 73.4 stroke average. The freshman saw three of his four top-10 finishes come in the fall season, punctuated by a win at October’s Dixie State Fall Regional Preview where he carded back-to-back rounds of 5-under-par 67. Lee closed his first year with the Clan by tying for seventh place at the GNAC Championships.

Killip earned Second Team All-GNAC honors along with the Newcomer of the Year award. The sophomore transfer from Sonoma State finished tied for ninth in the GNAC with a 74.0 stroke average and posted three top-five finishes on the season. He opened his Concordia career with a second-place finish at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational in September and opened the spring by tying for fifth at the Bay Area Invitational in February.

Bennett was named the GNAC Men’s Golf Coach of the Year for the third time in the last four years. He leads a Vikings’ program that was ranked No. 4 nationally in both the latest Bushnell/GolfWeek Division II Rankings and GolfStat Division II Rankings.

2018-19 GNAC MEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Player of the Year: Jordan Lee, Western Washington
Coach of the Year: Luke Bennett, Western Washington
Freshman of the Year: Jordan Lee, Western Washington
Newcomer of the Year: Riley Killip, Concordia