Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2018
- Class:
- 1999
It is an accomplishment that has withstood the test of time. The 1998-99 Spider Men’s Golf Team capped a record-breaking season of firsts by earning the program’s first and only appearance in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf National Championship.
Coach Nat Withers’ team also made its first of three consecutive appearances in the NCAA East Regional at the Rhode Island Country Club, finishing eighth, ahead of Clemson, North Carolina State, Maryland, Penn State, Mississippi and Mississippi State, and just one stroke behind Duke and North Carolina. The eighth place standing qualified the Spiders for the national tournament, and it completed an unprecedented streak of compiling a Top-10 finish in all 12 tournaments in 1998-99, including eight Top-5 finishes.
The five-man squad that participated in the NCAA Tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, consisted of Joe Horowitz, co-captain Ryan McClain, co-captain Ken Macdonald, Chad Moseley, and Andy Peden. The group shot 27 rounds of even or under par that season, compiling 25 Top-20 finishes as individuals.
Macdonald earned All-CAA First Team honors, while Moseley and Horowitz were selected to the All-CAA Second Team. Peden and AJ Ploszay were named to the CAA All-Academic Team. The Spiders were the first-ever CAA team to appear in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf National Championship.
