Reading, Pa. (Sept. 25, 2009) - The golf teams at Alvernia University and Albright College are eager to kick off the fifth annual
John Yocum Challenge Cup this Saturday at Reading Country Club.
The first players will put the peg in the ground at Reading Country Club for a 12:45 tee time Saturday afternoon and the match play event will wrap up Monday afternoon at Berkshire Country Club. Saturday will be three fourball matches and Monday will be six singles matches. Alvernia won the cup the first two years while Albright has maintained control for the last two. The Crusaders need five of the nine available points to regain the cup, the Lions can retain with 4½.
Alvernia hits the weekend following Monday's 339 at the Lebanon Valley College Fall Invitational at Lebanon Country Club. Albright enters the weekend riding a wave of success having won the LVC invitational and defeated Lebanon Valley and Messiah College in a home tri-match on Thursday.
Alvernia freshman
Tim Pici (Malvern, Pa./West Chester East) has led the Crusaders in each of their three matches this fall--Monday with an 81. Fellow freshman
Casey Osborne (Lititz, Pa./Warwick), who played in each of the first two events of the season will carry a 78.5 stroke average into the weekend's event.
The Alvernia lineup will also feature sophomore
Justin Arnt (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) who is playing five strokes below his career average so far this fall. He will be teamed with classmate
Bill Dale (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) who is also striking the ball well this fall and nearly a half dozen strokes below his freshman average. Rounding out the six for the Maroon and Gold on Saturday will be sophomore
Matt Tirpak (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) and freshman Scott Downes (Sinking Spring, Pa.).
Albright brings four players averaging under 80 into the Yocum Cup led by sophomore
Eric Thorn at 77.2.
Brett Cybulski,
Matt Osorio, and
Dave Morano also average in the 70s.
To a man the players and the coaching staffs at both schools mark this competition on the calendar at the start of each season. “I strongly supported Jon’s President Cup proposal when presented with the idea," said Albright Head Coach
Ray Mest. "This concept of golf competition added to a long history of good local collegiate events and has been a great venue since its inception. Using the match play format has been refreshing to the players since all other DIII events use medal play. The Albright squad always looks forward to this match."
The Yocum Cup, which is basically modeled after golf's Ryder and Presidents Cups, began in the spring of 2006 as a way to introduce more healthy competition between the two Reading-based schools (which now share the same conference), and to honor the lifetime achievements of John Yocum in the sport of golf.
"Coach Yocum was the first one we both thought of when deciding on a name for the event," admits Alvernia Head Coach
Jon King. "And having it as a match play event adds to the excitement for our team. Even the guys not in the lineup come out and walk the course. With Division I integrating match play into its national championship I wouldn't be surprised to see it more prevalent at our level."
Yocum is a 1949 graduate of Albright College and was inducted into the Albright Hall of Fame in 1991. He served as a head golf pro locally at Galen Hall and Reading Country Club. He is also well known for being the golf instructor for World Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King. He coached the Alvernia golf team from 1983-88 and again from 1991-2000. He guided the Crusaders to NAIA District 19 champion's trophies three straight years and won the inaugural Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship in 1993. He was inducted into the Alvernia University Hall of Fame as part of the first class in 2008 and is also a member of the Berks County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
- Crusaders -