RENO, Nev. The University of Nevada’s men’s and women’s golf teams will open the 2007-08 season on Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 10-11 with the Wolf Pack men heading to the Saint Mary’s Invitational in Pebble Beach, Calif., and the women traveling to the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic in Fort Collins, Colo.
ABOUT THE SAINT MARY’S INVITATIONAL: Saint Mary’s College will play host to the 18-team men’s tournament at the par 72, 6,833-yard Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach. Teams wll play 36 holes on Monday with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, while the final round of 18 holes will begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday with tee times off the No. 1 and 10 tees.
The 18 teams competing in the Saint Mary’s Invitational include Baylor, Colorado, Eastern Michigan, Houston, Kansas, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), Nebraska, Nevada, tournament host Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Texas-Arlington, UAB and Wisconsin.
Results and a recap of each day’s action will be available at www.nevadawolfpack.com.
NEVADA’S LINEUP: Nevada’s lineup for the Saint Mary’s Invitational will feature sophomore Taylor Coffman (San Diego, Calif.), sophomore Ryan Hallisey (Granite Bay, Calif.), junior Matt Rippy (Boise, Idaho), true freshman Chris Cho (San Diego, Calif.) and senior Chase Cooper (Guymon, Okla.)
MEET THE WOLF PACK MEN’S GOLF TEAM: Nevada returns seven letterwinners from last year's squad, including all five players from its WAC Championship and NCAA Regional squad. Returners include seniors Austin Beatty (Lynnwood, Wash.), Chase Cooper (Guymon, Okla.) and James Haban (Crescent City, Calif.), junior Matt Rippy (Boise, Idaho) and sophomores Jared Becher (Reno, Nev.), Taylor Coffman (San Diego, Calif.) and Ryan Hallisey (Granite Bay, Calif.). Coffman was named the WAC Player and Freshman of the Year last season and was joined on the 2007 All-WAC first team by Rippy. Hallisey earned second-team All-WAC honors in 2007, while head coach Rich Merritt, who is entering his fourth year with the Wolf Pack this season, was named the 2007 WAC Coach of the Year. Nevada turned in seven top five finishes last year, including its win at the WAC Championships.
Sophomore Greg Wenzel (Sparks, Nev.) and redshirt freshmen Scott Smith (Fallon, Nev.) and Kellen Watabu (Kapaa, Hawaii) rejoin the team after redshirting last season. The Wolf Pack also welcomes a pair of newcomers to the links this year in true freshmen Chris Cho (San Diego, Calif./West View HS) and Chris Plappert (Las Vegas, Nev./Arbor View HS).
ABOUT THE PTARMIGAN RAM FALL CLASSIC: Colorado State University will play host to the 10th annual Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic at the Ptarmigan Country Club in Fort Collins. Teams will play 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday with both days beginning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time (7:30 a.m. Pacific). Teams in the 20-team women’s tournament include Baylor, California, Colorado, tournament host Colorado State, Eastern Washington, Weber State, Washington State, Idaho, Campbell, Long Beach State, Fresno State, Montana State, Portland State, Nevada, Texas Tech, San Jose State, BYU, Wyoming, Gonzaga and UTEP.
Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com, while results and a recap of each day’s action will be available at www.nevadawolfpack.com.
NEVADA’S LINEUP: Nevada’s lineup for the tournament includes junior Melanie De Leon (Saugus, Calif.), senior Heather Olmstead (Puyallup, Wash.), sophomore Pamela Abreu (Guatemala City, Guatemala), junior Luxchmi Gill (Reno, Nev.) and senior Jennie Pleas (Lihue, Hawaii).
MEET THE WOLF PACK WOMEN’S GOLF TEAM: Nevada returns five letterwinners from last year’s team, including seniors Heather Olmstead (Puyallup, Wash.) and Jennie Pleas (Lihue, Hawaii), juniors Melanie De Leon (Saugus, Calif.) and Luxchmi Gill (Reno, Nev.) and sophomore Pamela Abreu (Guatemala City, Guatemala). Led by second-team All-WAC honoree Melanie De Leon, the Wolf Pack turned in five top five finishes last year, including a win at its own Wolf Pack Classic and a fourth-place finish at the 2007 WAC Championships.
The team welcomes four newcomers in junior Grace Jeong (Jun-ju, Korea/Redlands CC) and true freshmen Ana Patricia de la Maza (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Instituto Andes), Lauren Hernandez (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman HS) and Ashlee Jones (Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano HS). The Wolf Pack also welcomes a new coach in Adam Pohll. Pohll came to Nevada this summer after spending the last three years as head coach of the men’s and women’s golf teams at Sacramento State. Last season, he led both Hornet teams to conference championships.
UP NEXT: Following the Saint Mary’s Invitational, the Nevada men’s golf team will travel to Birmingham, Ala., for the Shoal Creek Invitational on Sept. 24-25. The University of Alabama-Birmingham will host the tournament at the Shoal Creek Country Club.
After the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, the Wolf Pack women’s team returns to action on Oct. 1-2 at the University of Colorado’s Heather Farr Memorial in Broomfield, Colo.
