Coming off of a strong yet short September and October season due to COVID-19, the Beaver Men’s Golf Teams has swung into the Spring in stride.

As for their leadership, Coach Powell began his Fall season as the Men’s Golf Head Coach but earned a promotion to Director of Golf Operations nearing the end of his second year at BVU. Safe to say, he has quickly impressed within the BVU athletics department.

Powell’s added responsibilities will see him working with the Women’s Golf Coach, as well as building off of the foundation the retiring Head Coach Janet Berry has laid.

As of now, there is also a job opening for a Part-Time Assistant Golf Coach.

But for the rest of the Spring, the focus shifts to the American Rivers Conference Championships on the last weekend of April.

“The one time we got out to play in the fall we played really well as a team,” says Director Powell. “Anthony Gallagher won the individual title and we shot one of our best scores in a number of years. We wanted to continue to build off of those results and set the bar even higher for the spring, really to gear up for the ARC Tournament.”

The Men began the Spring with the Shoal Creek Invite in Kansas City, Missouri. Ryan Ruzek notched the team-best performance with a 79, followed by Anthony Gallager and Evan Krause.

Gallagher continued his excellent form from the Fall where he collected a medalist honor in the opening season invite.

The team would finish in 5th place in Kansas City.

Next on the schedule came the Kirkwood Invite where BVU placed 9th, and then a 10th place finish in Waverly.

In the latter, Ruzek and Gallagher once again led BVU with the team’s top-two finishes at ninth and 32nd respectively.

Most recently, the Beavers golfed in the Iowa Central Invite finishing in the middle of the pack at 6th out of 12 teams as the squad continues to find their Spring form.

Despite the somewhat slow start, Director Powell is pleased with the performance of his squad thus far.

“We are trending in the right direction as we get closer to the conference [tournament] and the last tournament. Joey Ashley finished tied for seventh in a big field which was great to see. All of our seniors have been steady this spring and are ready to fire off some good rounds at any moment I feel like,” says Powell.

The looming goal and biggest test of the year remains the American Rivers Conference Championships, taking place in Iowa City this year.

The nine ARC teams will come together to square off in the final outing of the season, and no one more than Director Powell and the Beavers look forward to the opportunity to impress as they did in 2019.

As a team we want to get into a great place mentally heading into the tournament,” says Powell. He adds, “Every day we talk about putting our heads down, doing our jobs, and getting the most out of every practice and tournament. While we play the whole spring to get ready for it, we need to peak at the right time, which is the ARC Championship.”

The Beavers will be back in action on Thursday, April 22nd at the Central College Invite before concluding their season with the aforementioned American Rivers Conference Championship meet.

First swing in Pella will be at the Bos Landen Golf Course.