The 2011 Illinois College men’s golf team is light on experience but loaded with young talent. The roster features just one upperclassman, although several members of last year’s team that surprised some at the Midwest Conference Championships return this year. Illinois College finished fifth at the 2010 MWC Championships after being picked to finish eighth in a preseason poll of league coaches.
The lone upperclassman is junior Brock Doehring. The rest of the team is made up of sophomores Joshua Wilson, Dustin Shea and Wilson Neill, and freshmen Tyler Eads, Zeke Light, Pete Moyemont and Bret Thixton. Head coach Ray DeFrisco is entering his third season at the helm.
The Blueboys will play a competitive schedule as they prepare for the 2011 MWC Championships. They will start the year with a week of practice rounds in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The first meet of the season will be the Prairie Fire Classic in Galesburg. The Blueboys will then head to the Millikin Spring Classic two weeks later before hosting three events over the following 10 days.
The McNaughton Memorial Classic will be held April 11 at The Links in Jacksonville. The Blueboys Invitational will be April 15-16 at Edgewood Golf Club and the IC Invite will be held April 20 at The Links.
The IC men’s golf team will get one last tune-up for the conference tournament when it heads to the Scot-Fire Invitational, co-hosted by Monmouth College and Knox College, on April 22-23. One week later, the Blueboys will head to the MWC Championships at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, where they will look to improve on last year’s impressive performance.