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February 26, 2006 Lacey, WA --- The Saints, who finished ranked in the top 25 nationally and qualified for the program’s first National Tournament after finishing among the top five teams in the powerful West Region, begin the spring portion of their season today at the Family Motor’s Invitational at the Seven Oaks Country Club in Bakersfield, California. The Saints look to have another historic season. The Saints are led by two-time All-American Shane Prante (Sr., Olympia, WA). Prante, the only NCAA Division II golfer in history to be nationally ranked no. 1 by Golfstat, entered the National Tournament last season as the highest ranked golfer in Div. II with a 71.23 scoring average. “Shane is off to a great start and possibly playing the best golf of his college career,” said Saints head coach Kurt Kageler, referring to Prante’s two tournament wins and two top 10 finishes in the fall portion of their season. “He has already made a case for a three-peat for All-American recognition,” said Kageler. In addition to Prante, the Saints have two returners from last year's squad that competed at the National Tournament - Chris Westrum (Sr., Kapa’au, HI) and Jordan Burns (So., Longview, WA). Also back for the Saints are Derek Siesser (Jr., Maple Valley, WA) and Hiro Nezu (So., Shizuokoshi, Japan.), both of which have “quality experience in tournament play,” according to Kageler. The Saints welcome four new golfers to the roster. Among them, Kageler expects Peter Perkins (Jr., Bremerton, WA), a transfer from Olympic Community College, to lead the way. “Peter has really established himself as the second best golfer on our team,” said Kageler. John Eisentrout (Fr., Olympia, WA), Sean O'Mera (Fr., Sequim, WA) and Nathan Strand round out the roster. “Our newcomers take pride in pushing the rest of the team to get better on a daily basis,” said Kageler. Olof Rosborg (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden) and Stephen Glenn will redshirt this season, but will be available for competition next year. The Saints find themselves facing an intense schedule this spring as they play in “one of the toughest regions in the nation,” according to Kageler. Region 8 will get four of the eight at-large births available for the National Tournament. “We had five teams in our region ranked in the top 10 in the nation at any given time this past fall. Every tournament we compete in has at least three of the top 10 teams in the nation,” said Kageler. “I love it; we get the opportunity to test ourselves each week against the best of the best.” The Saints look to have another outstanding season and build upon last year’s success. “Our goals at the beginning of the season were to return to the National Tournament and place in the top ten. That hasn't changed, but we have to continue to improve,” said Kageler. “We started the fall season playing extremely well, but we faltered towards the end. We’ve had nearly three months to prepare for the spring, and despite the rough weather conditions, the guys have been working hard in the off-season.” Coach Kageler will continue to impress upon his golfers the importance of successfully balancing the rigors and demands of being a student-athlete at the collegiate level. “My philosophy is simple – student-athletes are here to achieve at the highest level possible both academically and athletically. While we are doing that, we are also going to have some fun along the way!” said Kageler. Kageler continues, “I take pride in seeing the Saint’s golf team achieve high levels of success on the golf course, but what I appreciate the most is seeing my student-athletes walk across the stage and receive their diplomas during graduation.”
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