Plymouth, Ind. - The Illinois Central College men's golf team brought home an 11th place finish at the NJCAA National Championships at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, IN on May 19-22. The Cougars narrowly missed a Top 10 finish, falling five shots short of 10th place North East CC out of Nebraska. Murray State (OK) was crowned as the National Champions.

Individually, freshman Connor Watson placed 10th overall, earning him 2nd Team NJCAA All-American honors.

"We just could not build any momentum all week," fourth year coach Sean Kennedy said. "Our preparation and effort were terrific but our lack of execution was confounding."

"But individually," Kennedy continued, "I could not be happier for Connor Watson. He worked tirelessly over the winter on lowering his ball flight on windy days, which became vitally important because the wind blew 15 miles per hour plus for all four days at Nationals, so his work paid off and showed on the biggest stage."

As a team, the Cougars ended the season ranked 10th in the final NJCAA Men's Golf rankings.

It is the fourth consecutive Nationals' appearance for the men's golf program.

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR OUTGOING SOPHOMORES
The Cougars say goodbye to four talented sophomores: Drake Kaufman (Ottawa HS), Logan Smith (New Berlin HS), Brooks Cluver (New Berlin HS), and Trey Boecker (Grant Park HS). Kaufman plans to start his own landscape business this summer while Smith, Cluver, and Boecker will all be playing at four-year schools in the fall. Boecker has already signed with NCAA DI Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, while Smith and Cluver will announce their decisions next week.

KENNEDY'S QUOTES ON THE SOPHOMORES
"This graduating class undeniably used their time wisely at Illinois Central College. They qualified twice for trips to the NJCAA National Championship, including a National Runner Up finish last year.  They won an astonishing 15 regular season tournaments, including consecutive Ron Marshall Spring Fling Championships in Scottsboro, AL and currently hold four ICC scoring records, with Trey holding 3 of those individual scoring records. Also, Trey Boecker ends his ICC career as the #1 ranked player in the nation in the final NJCAA men's Golf rankings. It was definitely two years of time well spent for Trey, Brooks, Drake, and Logan."

KENNEDY ON WATSON LEADING WAY IN 2026-27
"Connor brings a refreshingly positive, can-do attitude every day, is a terrific student, and his work ethic is perhaps unrivaled, as he has three part-time jobs while in season. I'm so excited to have All-American Connor Watson returning to lead next year's young Cougar squad."

Final results: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/rankings?division=NJCAA+II