Oct. 7, 2002

With five of its top six golfers returning from last season, the 2002-2003 Duquesne University golf team appears ready to make a run at the top of the Atlatic 10 standings. After seventh and ninth place A-10 finishes in each of the two past seasons, the Dukes would like to return to the top third of the standings where they finished as high as recently as 2000 with a University-best third place finish.

Despite the ninth place showing at A-10's last year, the Dukes fared well in their other competitions. Duquesne won the 11-team Duquesne Invitational and the 17-team Lafayette Invitational as well as turning in second place finishes at the 17-team St. Bonaventure Invitational and the seven-team Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational.

In his 15th season, head coach Nellie King will look to lone senior Sean Flanigan and junior Steve Seiden to bring the Red and Blue back to prominence. Flanigan led the Dukes in scoring average last season with a 76.3 average while playing in all 21 rounds. Seiden also played all 21 rounds and was third on the squad with a 76.9 average.

Flanigan placed first for the Dukes in five of the team's 11 events, including three straight in the fall semester. He shot a season-best 71 in the second round of the St. Bonaventure Invitational en route to a third place finish of 90 golfers and finished fourth of 60 golfers in the Duquesne Invitational with a two-round score of 151.

Seiden led the Dukes in three events including a share of the team-lead with Flanigan at the A-10 Championship. In the first round at A-10's Seiden shot a school-record 67 on the par 72 course. Seiden led the Dukes in scoring in six of 21 rounds including three of the final seven. In addition, he placed sixth at the DU/RMC Invite.

Sophomore Mike Namey is the only other returning Duke to compete in all 21 events. He, along with fellow sophomores Tom Wears and Tom Hungerford and junior Blake Tyson complete the list of returnees and will battle for starting positions. Namey was sixth on the squad in scoring with a 78.4 average. He shot a career-best 70 and finished second overall in helping the Dukes win the Lafayette Invitational. Wears signed seven scorecards for the Red and Blue and ended the year with a 77.1 average which was fourth best for DU while Hungerford and Tyson combined to shoot six rounds as freshmen.

Three freshmen will join the roster this year in Joe Christine, Andrew Kwiatkowski and Michael Talarico. Christine had a 72.4 scoring average as a senior and shot a low round of 63, Kwiatkowski was a four-time All-Division honoree and a two-time All Star while Talarico was a three-time WPIAL qualifier.

The Dukes will open the 2002-2003 slate with traditional rival St. Francis (PA) on Sept. 4. Other fall competition includes visits to invitationals at Temple, St. Bonaventure, Bucknell and Robert Morris. The Dukes will host the Duquesne Invitational at Champion Lakes Golf Club Sept. 29-30 and will co-host the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational at Southpointe Golf Club in the spring. The season will culminate May 2-4 at Dayton as the Red and Blue compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship.