The Monarchs have claimed another crown.
The winningest men’s golf program in NCAA Division III championship history, Methodist claimed its record 14th national title Friday at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada, firing a 72-hole D3 finals-record 21-under par to beat reigning champion Carnegie Mellon by a stroke.
“It’s tough to win,” coach Steve Conley told NCAA.com. “I mean, we just set the 72-hole scoring record for the national championship in Division III … and we only won by one.”
The previous 72-hole record was set by the Monarchs in 1998 at 9 under. That performance came during a run of six straight national titles, and nine in 10 years for Methodist. Starting with its first NCAA championship in 1990, the Monarchs added banners in 1991, ’92, ’94-’99, 2010, ’15, ’18, ’22 and ‘24.
All of those national championships were won under Conley, who started coaching at Methodist in 1988. Since then, Conley has been named D3 national coach of the year eight times. He’s a 17-time regional coach of the year, 25-time conference coach of the year, and in 2007 at 44 years old, he became the youngest coach ever inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Hall of Fame.
Along with 14 national titles, his program has produced 25 conference championships, nine D3 individual national champions and 58 All-Americans.
Senior Cooper Hrabak was the Monarchs’ low scorer in this year’s national finals. He shot 11-under par to finish a stroke behind medalist Michael O’Sullivan from Oglethorpe, closing his tourney and sealing the Monarchs’ win with a 25-foot birdie putt in a final round of 5 under.
Caleb Ryan tied for sixth at 6 under with two of the Monarchs’ nine eagles, Chase Walts tied for 17th at 2 under after carding a 66 with two eagles in Round 1, Aiden Spampinato tied for 24th at even par after a first-round 68 with a pair of eagles, and Cameron Cappuzzo tied for 71st at 10 over after shooting par in his last two rounds.
Biggest news in golf today: For the 14th time in school history, the Monarchs are National Champs!
pic.twitter.com/eadTkLFmgK
— Methodist Monarchs (@mumonarchs) May 18, 2024
The Monarchs tallied 73 birdies in the national tournament, coming on the heels of their third straight USA South tournament title.
“These guys are like my brothers and I’m never going to forget this moment,” Cappuzzo, a senior, told NCAA.com after the championship. “It’s going to be tough to walk away from it but I’ll always have them with me.”
Capuzzo, Hrabak, Ryan and Walts were named to the GCAA All-America team, with Hrabak joining Monarchs Rob Pilewski, Chad Collins and Adam Horton as the program’s only four-year first-team honorees.