Approximately 80 players competed in the Collegiate Championship this year. While many teams prepared rigorously for this year’s competition, no amount of practice would prepare the players for the extreme conditions on Saturday, April 16th, making it even more difficult to make it into the final ladder. Trough the rain, each school put at least one team in the golf finals. In six wicket, four SUNY New Paltz and four St. John’s teams qualified for the finals And when clear skies opened up on the final morning, the tension was high.
GC Division Recap While other schools had teams in both events, William and Mary had their sights set on golf alone from the beginning.
“We normally just do golf,” said Jay Schneider, captain of William and Mary croquet. “In the past, we’ve always done golf because we’re a small team and it’s something to focus on. Tis year, we’re looking out for Navy.”
Te US Naval Academy, which has at- tended the Collegiate Championship since its beginning, has always had a strong team. Dan Abney, Imperial Wicket of Navy, explained their long standing tradition. “At our school, the entire class is broken into 30 companies. Each company has a tradi-
tion and ours is croquet. We come out here for fun, but the main game we come out for is St. John’s.”
Each year, the US Naval Academy and St. John’s compete in the Annapolis Cup, one of the biggest croquet events of the year. While the Annapolis Cup is usually held before the Collegiate Championship, there was a change-up in the schedule and this year it would fall two weeks aſter (April 30th).
“We usually use the Annapolis Cup as practice,” said John Fleming, the future ap- pointed Imperial Wicket of St. John’s. “We have big personalities and they have big personalities. I know that they will come at us hard this year.”
In the GC division though, Navy was able to land two teams (one shorthanded) in the finals and seemed confident in their golf teams.
“We’re not worried,” said Luis Luy, senior of Navy Croquet. “We come out here to have fun.”
William and Mary and two Oklahoma teams rounded out the finals for the indi- vidual winner in golf croquet.
Battling it out would be US Naval Acad- emy’s single member, Ross Hermann,
against the Oklahoma team of Skyler Witt- man and Steven Luttenberg, who went 3-1 the previous day. Aſter a long game, Hermann of Navy was able to come out on top.
Te Navy sophomore was the only single member team in the golf finals and he seemed a little surprised by the success. “I just learned how to play golf yesterday,” said Hermann. “I feel great. Hopefully I’ll play even better next week against St. John’s.”
Despite Hermann’s individual win in golf, Oklahoma earned enough points to win the top spot in the team golf champion- ship. Navy placed second in the team finals and New Paltz finished third.
Six Wicket Division Recap
On the six wicket battlefield, St. John’s knew from the outset that they had a new team to mark.
“Tey [New Paltz] were impressive,” said Fleming of St. John’s. “Tey brought a big team again this year and have four teams in the [six wicket] finals. I’m very excited to see what happens.”
SUNY New Paltz, who brought 28 team- mates in 2010, once again brought an impressive roster the event.
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croquetnetwork.com | may-june 2011 College Nationals at the Merion Cricket Club
Photo by Vicky Haralam
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