For the first time since 1992, the Grace College golf team ended the Mid-Central Conference regular season in first place. As host of the MCC conference tournament at Rozella Ford Golf Course today and Saturday, the Lancers have high hopes for extending the season past this weekend.

With two all-conference golfers and the MCC coach of the year, Dr. Darrell Johnson, Grace has a great chance of doing just that.

"When I first took over the golf team here, the only player I had from the previous year was John Teevan," Johnson said. "During that summer I was able to recruit Joel Leaverton to come here. Then we recruited some guys from out of the dorm. We went through the dorm and looked at the closets. Whoever had golf clubs, we recruited them onto the team."

From those humble beginnings came this team just three years later. That first season, the team ended seventh in the regular season and sixth in the conference tournament. Last year, the team ended sixth during the season and fifth in the conference tournament.

It was all a springboard for this year.

"At the first match, before we even started, John Sheldon, the coach at Marian, looked at me and said, 'You're going to be the one to win the conference this year,'" Johnson said. "In fact, he said, 'I've got the trophy out in my car. Do you want me to get it for you?' I wasn't quite as confident as he was, but the guys came through and took first place in that first match."

Depth is the real key for this team. Todd Humrichouser, Leaverton, and Teevan are the three top players for this team, but they have brought in a number of other players along the way. Tony Meyer, Jonathon Crow and Dan Harney have filled in at the No. 4 and No. 5 slots along the way. "That depth is the key," Johnson said. "It not only gave us better scores, but, with that, Todd, John and Joel know that if they shoot a high score, there is going to be someone to pick them up down below. They don't feel the pressure as much, so they can relax and play better."

Johnson felt that Humrichouser and Leaverton should make the all-conference team this year, but little did he expect the impact they would have. Humrichouser had the second-best average in the conference, and Leaverton had the third-best average. Teevan ended at No. 11 in the conference. The top 10 are named to the all-conference team.

Not only are the players good golfers, but good students as well.

"We set some high academic standards for our guys," Johnson said. "They have to have a 2.5 grade-point average to play. I've had players that I've had to drop off the team in the past. All I can say is that the Lord brought a great group of guys together, and I just happen to be the person that got the opportunity to drive the van."

Because of the fact that the conference is located in Indiana, the conference tournament champion will probably struggle at the national tournament against teams that can play golf year round, but that won't stop Grace from holding high hopes.

"As a conference, we have great competition among the teams," Johnson said. "In the last three years, Indiana Wesleyan has gone to the national championship twice, and Marion went once. Each one of them has gone down and not made the cut. It is very difficult for us to compete, because we have those four or five months where we just don't play."

Another problem for the Lancers is the fact that they have struggled slightly over the last month of the season. Indiana Wesleyan made a run at Grace, but the Lancers held on for a one-match victory in the regular season.

"We were a bit concerned about that ourselves," Johnson said. "The one thing I look at is that the conference tournament is at Rozella, which has to be to our advantage. Rozella is not an easy course to play. It's one that you have to play several times before you can shoot well there. The other thing I look at is that Tuesday, we shot 309 and Indiana Wesleyan shot 306. Their No. 1 player shot a 69. I don't think he is going to come back to Rozella and shoot another 69."

Dr. Johnson himself was named coach of the year this year, but he doesn't focus on that.

"It certainly wasn't anything that I did," Johnson said. "One of the coaches jokingly said, 'Maybe we should rename this award as the recruiter of the year.' In golf, the biggest part of it is getting good players in. I really don't coach them that much. I tell the guys that my best attribute as coach is that I can drive the van and I can get the sack lunches. That's the thing that I can do the best."

The Grace College Lancers (46-10) will begin at noon on Friday. If they are in the top four after day one as they should be, they will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The top competition for Grace should be Indiana Wesleyan and St. Francis. [[In-content Ad]]