Spring 2006 Golf Preview 

In the spring 2006 season, Elizabethtown will look to improve upon its spring 2005 Commonwealth Conference championship finish of fifth place. The previous year, in the spring 2004 season, the Blue Jays finished third out of 14 teams in the Middle Atlantic Conference championships, the team's best conference championship showing since 1975.

Elizabethtown could have the pieces in place to make another strong run at the conference title like it did two years ago, if the results from the fall 2005 season are any indication. The Blue Jays had five players this fall shoot rounds of 80 or less, and four Etown golfers had averages of less than 83 in the fall 2005 season. At the Susquehanna Fall Invitational in September, Etown placed second out of 12 teams with a score of 316, and the Blue Jays finished just eight stokes behind defending Commonwealth Conference champion Albright College in a dual match in October.

Junior Bob Pyrz (Harleysville, PA/Souderton Area) emerged as Etown's top golfer in the gall as he averaged 78.6 over five rounds and posted a fall team season-best score of 75 at the Susquehanna Invitational September 23.

Fellow junior Shehzad Dar (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) played in two matches in the fall and shot 80 in both of them. First-year student Mike Wagner (Allentown, PA/William Allen) also competed in two matches and shot rounds of 80 and 81.

Sophomore Hunter Gross (Elizabethtown, PA) played in four rounds in the fall and posted an average of 82.3. His best round score of 80 came in the September 26 Lebanon Valley Invitational. First-year student Micah Albrycht (Plymouth Meeting, PA/The Episcopal Academy) shot a round of 79 in the dual match against Albright, and he posted an average of 83.2 over five matches in the fall. First-year student Kyle Foltz (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) competed in three matches in the fall and had a round of 82 for his season best. Senior Alex Rakow (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon Catholic) twice shot rounds of 83 in the fall, and first-year student Maurice Rapp (Bangor, PA/Bangor) posted a fall-best round score of 85 twice.

Etown's spring season is set to begin April 3 at Lebanon Valley, and the Commonwealth Conference championships will be held April 29 and 30.