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CSM golf takes 18th at nationals
Williams retires as head coach after 40 years, 60-plus seasons with Hawks sports
Friday, May 28, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo
CSM takes 18th at the NJCAA Division II National Golf Tournament in Goodyear, Ariz., just outside of Phoenix. Standing, from left, are head coach Danny Williams, Tyler Morris, Gavin Connell, Chris Simpson and Kyle Carranza.
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These desert-surrounded greens forever will be etched in College of Southern Maryland golf lore as the place where Roger Welch won the national tournament eight years ago as a virtual unknown talent across the country's landscape.
Four CSM golfers set foot back on the same suburban Phoenix course in the four-day National Junior College Athletics Association Division II tournament May 18 to 21 hoping to duplicate the magic that belonged to Welch, a St. Mary's Ryken High School graduate before arriving to the Hawks program.
There was no national championship this time on the individual or team level for CSM, but competing on the junior college's grandest stage was a fitting way to conclude a Hawks campaign that saw them sport an unbeaten 6-0 record during the regular season, finish second at Region XX tournament six strokes behind three-time champion Potomac State (W.Va.) and rank 18th out of 21 teams that earned national invites.
CSM's aggregate 1,278 was 112 strokes off the pace of national champion South Mountain (Ariz.) during the four rounds and 126 over par.
Arizona schools were responsible for two of the top three teams and three of the top seven in their home state-hosted national tournament. Potomac State finished in 16th, 17 strokes better than CSM.
Sophomore Chris Simpson (McDonough) and freshman Kyle Carranza (Leonardtown) spearheaded CSM's effort with an aggregate 317, tied for 87th among the 130 individual golfers. The CSM duo were each 29 strokes over par, finishing 33 behind national champion Marcelo Rozo, of John A. Logan in Illinois, who posted a 4-under-par tournament performance.
"Definitely, it's an experience worth having –– one in a million," said Simpson, whose best rounds came on days two and three with back-to-back, six-over 78s. "Golf out there is a lot different. You can keep it inbounds easier. There's a lot less trouble. We have woods surrounding the fairways here, which is their desert [in Arizona]. But the competition is so hard. [The top schools] recruit out of the country, just like big-time [NCAA] Division I schools do.
"I was hoping to shoot better, but I know finishing toward the top was kind of a long shot. For the most part, I was happy getting up and down around the greens. We just weren't at the top of our game [as a team] at the time of nationals. So it was disappointing for us. We had the confidence we could get it done."
Carranza boasted CSM's best round at nationals with a 3-over 75 on day two. The next round 24 hours later on Thursday was his worst, firing an 85, to keep him from finishing higher in the individual standings after shooting three days in the 70s.
Ironically, CSM's other two golfers in the national tournament also exhibited symmetry in their scoring. Sophomore Gavin Connell and freshman Tyler Morris (Chopticon) amassed identical 322 aggregate totals, knotted in 102nd place and 34 strokes over par.
Connell's last three rounds were each a 78, while Morris carded a pair of 77s on days two and three.
Last Tuesday's first round was most costly to CSM as only Carranza managed a sub-80 score of 78, while Simpson had an 80 and Connell and Morris each finished with 88s.
"Chris Simpson qualified [for the national tournament] last year and played in Alabama," CSM head coach Danny Williams said. "The other three kids had never played in a national tournament. They all played terrible on the front nine on the first day. After that, to be honest, the kids played pretty well. I was very pleased with their performances.
"I know they're all disappointed they didn't shoot a little better."
He added, "This is the best team I've ever had from top to bottom."
Williams retires
The conclusion of the national tournament brought about much more than the end of CSM's season. It also concludes Williams' long, accomplished coaching career.
Spanning 40 years of coaching at CSM, and before that when it was called Charles County Community College, in just about every sport –– from starting the golf program in 1989, softball in 1979 and men's tennis in 1974 to being the frontman of the women's basketball and women's tennis teams at junctures of his career while spending time as an assistant in men's basketball and baseball –– Williams estimates that he's been involved in more than 60 seasons of Hawks athletics.
"I'm just tired," the 63-year-old retiring coach said. "I just finished my 40th year of teaching, and I'm not sure if I'm retiring from teaching or not."
Williams added that CSM assistant Ned Spearbeck –– also the golfing professional of Hawthorne Country Club in La Plata –– wants to remain in his current role with the Hawks under the next coach of the program.
CSM still qualified individually for nationals despite not winning regionals as a team. The next best five individual scores after Potomac State's winning regional tally –– earning the maximum berths of five golfers –– qualified for nationals.
Carranza was second, Simpson fourth, Morris fifth and Connell tied for sixth at regionals, earning their qualifications. Unfortunately for CSM, freshman Eric Ryon (Northern) did not make the cut at regionals for a nationals berth like his teammates.
"Eric Ryon is a good ball striker," Williams said. "He just happened to have the worst day of his career [at regionals]."
The cold, two-round regional tournament was played in weather that was literally the polar opposite from the sunny 90-to-100-degree days in Arizona.
The third round was the hottest with temperatures reaching 101 degrees. The final round saw 100-degree, windy conditions, making for the most difficult day at nationals given the pin placements.
The regional tournament was hosted by Wisp Ski and Golf Resort in Garrett County, where wintry weather produced sub-40 temperatures with 20-mph winds for the morning tee times. CSM's golfers were dressed in layers for regionals as opposed to polo shirts and shorts at nationals.
"There was a lot more pressure on us at regionals," Simpson said. "It was almost like polar opposite [weather from nationals]. It felt like we were playing in the middle of January. In Arizona, it was like the middle of summer and the warmer weather helps a lot with staying loose."
