Midd Golfers Capture NESCAC Crown

Author: Jeff Martin

The Middlebury Panther golf team rallied from a nine-stroke deficit on Sunday to win the New England Small School Athletic Championship. The host team shot a splendid 301 on day two at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course to capture its second NESCAC title in four years.
The five-man combination of Damon Gacicia '02.5, Brad Tufts '03, Ryan Simper '03, Chuck Clement '04 and Ryan Birtwell '04 contributed to Middlebury's lowest round of the season. The Panthers two-day total of 613 was one shot better than the Division III nationally ranked Ephs of Williams (614). The Panthers also shocked the Tufts Jumbos, who jumped out to an impressive 303 on Saturday to lead the field. The stage was once again set for a dramatic second day comeback by Middlebury, which is rivaled only by the US victory over Europe in the 2001 Ryder Cup.
Leading Sunday's charge was the veteran leadership of Gacicia and Tufts, who shot 74 and 72, respectively. Middlebury's other two scores came from Simper with a 76, and Clement with a 79. The Panthers' team effort pushed them into the winner's circle ahead of the nine other NESCAC schools. Individually, Gacicia finished second by only three strokes to Brian Williams of Hamilton who shot a 145. Right behind Gacicia was Tufts with a combined tournament score of 149, joining Gacicia on the prestigious All-NESCAC first team. Placing on the All-NESCAC second team was Simper who finished tenth out of the 50-man field. Simper commented on the huge victory, "It felt really good to win this one, especially since it's the fourth and last go-around for Damon, Brad and myself. Coming from behind was a great way to finish it up, especially being behind Williams and fairly far behind Tufts after day one. We knew we had a chance if we could just get four decent scores on the board, and we did just that."
The 2000 NESCAC Champion Dave Greiner '03, not playing this weekend due to early retirement, was out to cheer the team on Sunday afternoon along with a crowd that rivaled a Middlebury-Plattsburgh hockey game. Greiner commented, "The boys really did it this time, coming back from nine strokes, which was reminiscent of the glory days of Middlebury golf during the George Phinney era."
After seeing the first round results, Greiner fired off a few early morning phone calls to encourage the boys, and in his own words, "played a little techno music for Damon to get him fired up for another good round and that's all it took. I called it two weeks ago that they would win, and now all they need to do is take home the New England's to wrap up the finest semester of golf us fans have seen in decades."
Simper really summed up the Panther's victory by adding, "This tournament was won as a team effort, and that makes it all that much more sweet." The team will rest up this weekend before returning to action next Tuesday, Oct. 8 for the Goss Invitational hosted at Vermont National.