After a two year hiatus from the NCAA Division III Championships, the Gustavus Men’s Golf Team has suddenly thrust itself into strong consideration for one of the tournament’s at-large bids since winning last weekend’s St. John’s Invitational.

With the win the Gusties are now ranked sixth in the nation after defeating the number one ranked Johnnies.

The Gusties took home the team title with an eight-over par 864, holding off a late surge by St. John’s to beat the Johnnies by six strokes. Alex Kolquist took home a share of the individual title, tying with a pair of Johnnies for first place honors at a one-over par 215. Each of the five scoring Gustie golfers placed in the top fifteen individually to secure the program’s first team title at the tournament since 2005.

“Leading up to last weekend, our season had its ups and downs, so it really feels good to end the regular season on top,” Kolquist said. “It was fun for us as a team because we all put together a really solid tournament through and through.”

At the St. John’s Invitational, Kolquist took home top honors, while Andrew Oakes placed sixth with a three-day score of 217 and Simon Erlandsson captured seventh with a score of 218. Trevor Gervais and Tyler McMorrow each tied for 12th place with a score of 221. The other Gustavus squad participating in the tournament finished ninth in the 16-team field.

The Johnnies had upended Gustavus by just four strokes the previous weekend at the Gustavus-hosted Bobby Krig Invite. That lone second place finish posted by the Gusties lastweekend proved to be the only tournament that they have not won this spring.

“We worked really hard this winter and got off to a great start this spring, but St. John’s bested us again at our home tournament,” Oakes said. “We had a chip on our shoulder, and we really stepped up. It felt great to beat them at their home tournament.”

Despite losing to St. John’s that weekend, some signs that pointed to the Gusties’ eventual triumph over the Johnnies emerged in the scores that were posted by the team at the Bobby Krig Invite.

“This weekend’s result at the St. John’s Invitational means a lot to our team,” Erlandsson said. “The weekend before, we had posted our lowest team score [in a single round] in seven years with a 283 on the final day. We tied that score two days in a row this weekend, so it really did a lot for our confidence.”

Kolquist—who had already posted a pair of second place finishes this season—secured his first individual collegiate tournament title, which helped him receive co-MIAC Golfer of the Week honors.

“I’ve been real close this season [to winning an individual title], and I knew that I could do it. I finally put together three really solid rounds, which is something that I hadn’t done yet,” Kolquist said. “It’s going to give me even more confidence when I step on the course and tee it up, and golf is definitely a sport where having self-confidence helps a lot.”

The Gusties have now won a trio of tournaments between their fall and spring seasons, but this was only the second time all year that the Gusties had defeated a nationally ranked Johnnies squad.

“This win was important because going into the weekend, we knew that we had to beat the Johnnies to keep our season alive,” Kolquist said. “They walked all over us this year and had edged us out by a couple of strokes the week before, so we were definitely out for some revenge.”

The Gusties had finished as low as sixth place at St. John’s Invitational last year, but that result pre-dates three of the scoring members of this year’s young squad.

“I think that we’re a much deeper team this year than we were last year,” Kolquist said. “Our team this year consists of six or seven guys that can go out there and shoot even par on any given day, which is exactly what you want on a team.”

After struggling to a fifth place team finish in the fall’s MIAC Championship, the Gusties have been on a roll that had the team envisioning a possible run at a berth in the NCAA Championships since the beginning of April.

“We had a pretty good feeling heading into last weekend’s tournament,” Erlandsson said. “I don’t think our performance was much of a surprise to us because we had been waiting for a breakout weekend, and we ended up having a pretty good tournament.”

The season may have been saved by the team’s strong showing in April, but as with any year the team experienced its share of up and down moments.

“We started the year off winning the Augsburg tourney, but after that things kind of started going down hill,” Kolquist said. “Our next couple tournaments were disappointing because we would put ourselves out of contention with one bad round and just couldn’t make up the strokes.”

Erlandsson pointed to the team’s Spring Break trip to Florida as the origin of the Gusties’ impressive turnaround this spring season.

“We had a great start to our spring season with our Spring Break trip to Florida,” Erlandsson said. “We played some very hard courses, so it was easier to come back here and play well.”

After an April that arguably ranks among the program’s best in recent memory, the Gusties are now crossing their fingers that they will be selected to compete at the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C. on May 10-13.

“We really want to get to Nationals this year because it would be a great experience,” Oakes said. “We need to get into some high pressure situations to build some experience because we have such a young team.”

The waiting game has Head Coach Scott Moe’s team on edge as they anxiously await the results of the selection committee’s meetings in the coming week.

“All of us are biting our nails and checking every update we can to figure out where we stand because it means that much to us,” Kolquist said. “This is what we play and practice for all year, and all we have left to do now is wait.”

No matter when the team’s season officially comes to an end, the Gusties surely have some good years ahead of them because of the level of success they’ve already had with such a young squad.

“With this many talented young players, the future looks very bright,” Oakes said. “We can only get better from here, and we can do some very amazing things in the next three years.”

Of the team’s roster of 13 golfers, only one has completed his sophomore year at Gustavus. This youth movement already has the Gusties excited for the possibility of extending their season into May, as well as well as whatever the years ahead may have in store.

“Our confidence is on top right now. We are a very deep team with a lot of talent,” Erlandsson said. “I have a good feeling about the team’s future because we’re going to get better and better.”