CAPE CHARLES, Va. – Guilford College senior Noah Ratner (Asheville, N.C./Asheville) collected his league-record third Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Golfer of the Year honor and Quakers’ coach Corey Maggard his third Jack Jensen ODAC Coach of the Year Award Monday night. Guilford sophomore Nick Shedd (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette) earned the league’s Farm Bureau Insurance Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the ODAC’s annual awards ceremony Monday night at the Bay Creek Resort and Lodge.
A school-record five Quakers earned All-ODAC laurels. Ratner joined Colin Clark ’07 as Guilford’s two four-time First Team All-ODAC honorees and became the fifth golfer so honored in league history. He was joined on the first-team unit by teammate Drew Thompson (Pickerington, Ohio/North Pickerington) for the second straight season as well as Shedd. The Quakers’ Dallas Page (Reidsville, N.C./Rockingham County (Averett)) earned second-team laurels and Guilford’s Travis Tolbert (Titusville, Fla./Astronaut (Brevard C.C.)) was a third-team pick.
Ratner captured the league’s top honor for the unprecedented third straight season and leads the conference with a 73.0 stroke average over 23 rounds. He claimed medalist honors at the ODAC Championships April 23 by five strokes and earned four ODAC Golfer of the Week honors this season, raising his career total to 13. Ratner’s lowest finish of the year was a 16th-place performance at the season-opening Gordin Classic. Since then he has placed 14th or better in nine straight tournaments, including six top-seven finishes. A two-time PING First Team All-American, Ratner received the 2012 Jack Nicklaus Award, presented annually by the Golf Coaches Association of America to the top player in each college division.
Maggard, a 2008 Transylvania University graduate, collected the ODAC’s men’s golf coaching honor for the third time in as many seasons as a head coach. He has guided Guilford to three tournament victories in 2012-13, as well as top-seven rankings in both Division III men’s golf ratings. The Quakers captured the ODAC Championship crown for the third straight season April 22, which clinched the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, May 14-17 in Destin, Fla. Guilford also won the Ted Keller Memorial and Pine Needles Intercollegiate this year. The Quakers have finished no lower than 10th in 10 tournaments with seven top-six finishes. Maggard’s men sit sixth in the April 24 Golfstat.com NCAA Division III Head-to-Head Standings and seventh in the April 22 Golf World/Nike Golf Division III Coaches’ Poll.
Shedd has played all 23 rounds this season and ranks fourth on the team with a 76.57 average that stands ninth in the ODAC. He has four top-12 finishes this year, including a third-place showing at the 50-man Pine Needles Intercollegiate, which topped the team. Shedd recorded two of his three subpar rounds of the season in his first two tournaments. He had a three-under-par 69 at the Gordin Classic, a score he matched at the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate. Off the course, Shedd carries a 3.79 grade point average as a business management major. The dean’s list student is a three-time member of Guilford’s Student-Athlete Honor Roll and earned Academic All-ODAC laurels in 2012.
Thompson ranks second in the league with a 74.9 stroke average in 23 rounds and was second to Ratner at the ODAC Championships, which earned All-ODAC Tournament recognition. He was fourth at both the O’Briant-Jensen Memorial and Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate tournaments. Thompson has four top-six efforts this year, including a fourth-place finish in the 160-man Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate. He posted his lowest round of the year (66) at the event, which earned him ODAC Player of the Week accolades.
Page has the ODAC’s fifth-lowest stroke average (76.18) with a pair of top-five finishes this year. He started the year outside of the Quakers’ starting lineup, but earned a spot in the team’s final fall tournament and hasn’t lost it. Page was third at the Ted Keller Memorial and placed fifth at the ODAC Championships to join Ratner and Thompson on the all-tournament team. He shot a career-low 68 at the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate, one of his two sub-par rounds this season.
Tolbert tallied three top-15 results in nine events and has a 77.15 stroke average, the league’s 11th-lowest figure. His best performance came at the Pine Needles Intercollegiate where he finished fourth. Tolbert posted a season-low, even-par 70 at the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate.
The announcement gives Guilford 66 All-ODAC selections since it joined the league in 1991-92.