Jags ranked 11th in first Spikemark/Clippd rankings
After a strong fall schedule, the UHV men's golf team is receiving more national recognition.
On Wednesday, the Jaguars were ranked 11th nationally in the first NAIA rankings of the year from Spikemark and Clippd.
UHV is the highest ranked school in the Red River Athletic Conference, according to the new rankings. The Jaguars are one of three Texas universities in the top 20 with Wayland Baptist (No. 7) and Texas Wesleyan (No. 10).
"I'm happy to see where we are in these rankings," said head coach Garrett Adair. "I think we still have room to grow after our fall tournaments, but this is a good start for us as we gear up for the spring and hopefully another conference title."
The new ranking system by Spikemark and Clippd, an industry-leader in golf technology, ranks schools based on a points system for each tournament played.
For each three-round tournament, there are 20 points up for grabs in the rankings while a one-round tournament has 10 available points. Better finishes are rewarded with more points, as Spikemark explains.
In four events, UHV averaged 21.99 points. The Jaguars had three Top 5 finishes in the fall, including two wins in the Prairie View A&M-Texas Southern Tri-Match and UHV Fall Classic.
Heading into the spring, UHV holds a 291.2 team stroke average. The school record for stroke average in a season is 291.44 set during the 2020-21 season.
Junior Joshua Van der Wath ranked 10th in the individual rankings with an average of 25.6 points through four tournaments. The Johannesburg, South Africa, native has a stroke average of 72.8 through 10 rounds after winning the Tri-Match (67, -4) and UHV Fall Classic (69-74-71—214, -2) in consecutive appearances.
Van der Wath is the highest-ranked golfer in the RRAC and Texas, according to the Spikemark and Clippd.
The Jaguars will open their spring schedule Feb. 5-6 at Texas A&M-International's Jack Brown Memorial Invite.
Full rankings can be seen here.