DRAGON GOLFERS PLACE 9TH; BOX IS 1ST-TEAM NJCAA ALL-AMERICAN
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
HOBBS, New Mexico – Freshman Charlie Box earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors to lead the Hutchinson Community College men's golf team to the ninth Top 10 national finish in program history on Friday at Rockwind Community Links.
The Blue Dragons posted their best round of the 72-hole tournament Friday with a 4-under 280 and placed ninth with a team score of 1,150.
Hutchinson has four consecutive Top 10 national placings, including back-to-back national team championships in 2021 and 2022 and a fifth-place performance in 2023.
Box became the program's sixth first-team NJCAA All-American and 17th overall NJCAA All-American when he tied four fourth place at 5-under 279. Box did not record a single over-par round with three under-par and one even-par round. Box was named a PING NJCAA All-American honorable mention selection on Monday.
Box had two birdies, one bogey and 15 pars in his final-round 1-under 70 on Friday.
He tied with New Mexico Military's Jackson Hicks, Midland's Benjamin Lund-Ravn and Odessa's Adam Bresnu for fourth place. Box was the second-best Region 6 individual finisher. Dodge City's Thanaphon Suwannapratheep earned the individual national championship at 9-under 275.
The Blue Dragons rallied from a four-stroke deficit against Dodge City to become the top Region 6 team finisher. Dodge City finished 11th at 1,158. Barton was 19th at 1,200. New Mexico Junior College won the team championship by three strokes over Odessa College. New Mexico shot 272 on the final day to complete the championship at 13-under 1,123.
The Blue Dragons got off to a sizzling start with nine birdies and only one bogey over the first seven holes. Hutchinson counted scores from Box (70), Louis Ross (67), Keaton Thissen (71) and David Razinskas (72) on Friday.
Marco Anderson shot a tournament-high 76 on Friday. He tied for 37th in the final standings with a 290.
Ross posted the low round of the championship for the Blue Dragons with a 4-under 67 on Friday with six birdies and two bogeys. Ross played the final eight holes in 4-under par. He finished tied for 55th at 296.
Thissen carded his best round of the championship with an even-par 71 in the final round. Thissen closed the tournament strong with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to finish tied for 60th at 297.
Razinskas was 2-under par through nine holes and had his round at 3-under through 12 holes. The Blue Dragon freshman had one birdie and four bogeys on the back nine to close at 1-over 72. Razinskas tied for 75th at 302.