Ryan Ernst
Cincinnati Enquirer

With the fall college golf season winding down and the Xavier men's team heating up, three former Cincinnati high school players of the year will tee it up this week as the Musketeers play host to their last tournament until spring.

Xavier is coming off a co-championship at last week's Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is ranked 51st nationally. And although Cincinnati-area natives Wes Homan (Summit Country Day), Justin Fender (New Richmond) and Kenton Hobbs (Lakota West) are battling to crack the starting lineup for each tournament, they will compete as individuals in this week's Xavier Provident Invitational. Last year during the tournament at the Golf Center at Kings Island, Hobbs shot his career low in the first round. Now a sophomore who has started twice this fall, he hopes another solid performance can put him on pace to become a permanent contributor in the spring.

"We go to our tournament and there's no pressure on us really; we know we can play well there," he said. "It's exciting, getting to play in front of friends and family. I just want to play well and show them that I've made that step to DivisionI golf and I can compete."

Like Hobbs last year, Fender and Homan, as freshmen, are just beginning to make the transition to college and collegiate golf. Fender won the team's fall qualifying but was out of the lineup after one tournament. He knows it will take time to become a consistent contributor.

"It's definitely a transition, but by spring I'd like to get into most tournaments," he said. "We've got three or four guys right now who are pretty solid, so I'm trying to sneak into that fifth spot and hold it."

Also competing for the fifth spot is Fender's high school rival and current roommate, Homan.

Although Homan has yet to get into a tournament for the Musketeers, he said he doesn't regret his decision to play at Xavier.

"As freshmen, we know our time is going to come. And as for right now, we know that we're going to have a good team every week," he said.

As for this week, the pressure is off. As hosts of the 18-team event, the Musketeers get to enter every member of their team. Five members will account for the team score and the rest - like Homan, Hobbs and Fender - will play for individual honors, bragging rights and a chance to leave a lasting impression during the offseason on coach Doug Steiner.

"It's all about experience for these younger guys," Steiner said.

The two-day tournament, taking place at the Grizzly Tournament Course, starts at 8:30a.m. Monday.

E-mail rernst@enquirer.com

Others

With a 1-0 win over Hillsdale College on Friday night, Northern Kentucky women's soccer coach Bob Sheehan recorded his 100th career victory.

Miami senior basketball player Heather Cusick was named to the All-Mid-American Conference East Division preseason team. Ohio's Brandon Hunter (Withrow) and Miami's Juby Johnson were men's team selections.

Tammy Schuler (Turpin) recorded 10 digs Thursday to set Urbana's single-season mark with 380.

Bowling Green freshman P.J. Pope (Wyoming) rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown in the Falcons' 72-21 win over Ohio last weekend.

Capital junior linebacker Ron Swearingin (Kings) recorded 15 tackles, a sack and a blocked punt last week in a 27-7 over Wilmington, earning him Ohio Athletic Conference player of the week honors.

Ann Reed (Mason), a volleyball player at Capital also earned player of the week honors. She was named to the all-tournament team at Westminster (Pa.) and led the Crusaders to a 4-1 record during the week.

Ricky Story (Western Hills) rushed for a season-high 183 yards and a touchdown in Mount St. Joseph's 28-13 win at Franklin College last week.

Mount St.Joseph soccer player Jen Oberjohann (Mercy) scored her first two goals of the year, last week for the Mount, including the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Manchester.