“We got off the bus, and it was a pretty bittersweet moment,” sophomore Cameron Hubbard said. “We believed it would be the last time we made a trip together as a team and that it was the last time we would ever compete together. We were all sad.”
Then everything changed. Though Blinn – ranked 14th in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Golf top 20 poll – did not qualify for the NJCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship tournament outright, the NJCAA’s voting committee deemed the Bucs’ season worthy of one of just two available at-large bids for nationals.
Now, the all-sophomore Buccaneers will get one last opportunity to compete as a team when the four-day national tournament kicks off Tuesday, May 16, at the Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, Kan.
This will be Blinn’s second appearance at nationals since the program launched in the fall of 2019.
“I’m proud of our guys; they earned the right to go and deserve to go in my eyes,” said Buccaneers head coach David Johnson, who helped launch the program four seasons ago.
Johnson surprised his team with a text message as the golfers were turning their sights toward their spring semester final exams.
“We got that text and there’s no denying that it was great news,” sophomore Carson Wray said. “It was a relief, but it was also sort of a rejuvenating feeling knowing that all of us would get a chance to go out and play as a team one more time.”
Alongside Hubbard and Wray, sophomores Sam Sewell, Tyler Thomas, Cole McClellan, and Van Miller also will hit the links in Newton.
Hubbard and Wray said when the tournament begins Tuesday, the Buccaneers will not be teeing off with a fortunate mindset, but will instead be eyeing the program’s first national title.
“It’s going to be us against the best competition in the nation, so we’re going to have to have our A-game to end up on top at the end of the day,” Hubbard said, “but we’re always going in to win and that’s our attitude now.”
Added Wray: “We get four more rounds together in our run at Blinn so we’re going to go out there and give it all we’ve got, and the goal is to win it all.”
Blinn will compete against 23 other teams who will vie for the national championship.
“We’re going to take every opportunity we can get to play and represent Blinn College,” added Johnson. “I think a good goal for us would be to finish inside the top 10. That would be a very successful finish for us, but I also believe our guys are capable of being right there at the top when they are playing their best, so this is going to be an exciting tournament to watch.”
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 43 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
