chris young - Hutchinson Community College

Blue Dragon Men’s golf Staff
Chris Young
Head Coach
Is his 17th season as Blue Dragon head coach, Chris Young continues to maintain the lofty
status he created for the Hutchinson Community College men’s golf team.
Only the fourth men’s golf head coach in program history, Young oversaw the switch of competition levels from NJCAA Division II to Division I; that came in his first season in 1999-2000.
After two lean years, the 2002 season was the first sign that the Blue Dragon men’s golf
program was beginning its rise to conference and regional power status. A fourth-place league
finish was the first upper-division finish since 1989 (13 years) and the team finished 18th at the
NJCAA Tournament.
The fortunes of the Blue Dragon men’s golf program turned around.
In Young’s tenure at Hutchinson, the Blue Dragons have:
+ 15 consecutive NJCAA Tournament appearances.
+ 6 Jayhawk Conference team championships (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014).
+ 5 Region VI team championships (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014).
+ 2 District III team championship (2007, 2009).
+ 6 NJCAA All-Americans.
+ 5 Ping/NJCAA All-Americans.
+ 5 Jayhawk Conference individual league champions.
+ 5 Region VI individual champions.
+ 1 District III individual champion.
+ 7 NJCAA Tournament Top 10 national placings.
Years at HCC:.............................................. 17th
Email:............................... [email protected]
Office Phone:..............................(620) 728-8133
The 2015 season saw the Blue Dragons re-capture the Jayhawk Conference crown, place second in the Region VI championships and
ninth in the NJCAA Championships. A pair of freshmen earned All-American honors. Chase Coble finished 12th at the 2014 NJCAA Championships at Sandcreek Station in Newton and earned second-team NJCAA All-America honors. Lewis Schenk was named a Ping honorable mention All-American.
The 2014 Blue Dragons were and up-and-down team, but put together their best performance of the season at the NJCAA District III/Region
VI Championships at Alvamar Country Club in Lawrence, KS. HCC won the program’s 17th Region VI crown and as runner-up in District III
to earn a 14th-consecutive trip to the NJCAA Tournament.
The 2011 Blue Dragons won their fourth-straight Jayhawk Conference team championship and captured their fourth Region VI team crown
in the last five seasons. Just to top things off, the Blue
Dragons earned another Top 10 national finish with a tie for
CHRIS YOUNG FILE
10th place at nationals in Odessa, Texas. Hutchinson won
Year-by-Year at Hutchinson Community College
the conference team title for the fifth time in six seasons.
Year
League Region VI NJCAA Individual players
2000
8th
9th
2001
7th
4th
20th
2002
4th
6th
18th
2003
4th
2nd
10th
2004
2nd
5th
7th
2005
2nd
4th
13th
2006
1st
3rd
14th
2007
3rd
1st
10th 2008
1st
1st
T6th
2009
1st
1st
8th
2010
1st
2nd
16th
2011
1st
1st
T10th
2012
2nd
2nd
13th 2013
3rd
2nd T14th
pion)
2014
3rd
1st
20th
2015
1st
2nd
9th
Jeremiah Nelson (3rd team All-American)
Adam Young (3rd team All-American)
Zac Fisher (Jayhawk Conference champion)
Tyler Way (Jayhawk Conference runner-up)
Grady Pauls (Jayhawk Conference champion)
Tyler Way (Region VI champion)
Grady Pauls (Jayhawk Conf. champion;
3rd team All-American)
Alex Wasinger (Region VI/District III champion)
Tom O’Keefe (NJCAA Championship
All-Tournament team)
Nicky Maddison (Jayhawk Conference champion)
Dale Middleton (6th overall, 2nd-team
All-American)
Dale Middleton (2nd team Ping/NJCAA
All-American)
Mike Muller (Region VI champion)
Michael O’Connor (Jayhawk Conference chamChase Coble (2nd team NJCAA All-American)
Lewis Schenk (Honorable Mention Ping
All-American)
Freshman Mike Muller became Young’s fourth Region VI
individual champion, winning that honor in a playoff. Muller,
Sam Schulte and Craig Howell were All-Jayhawk Conference and All-Region VI, while two other players were
second-team all-league in 2010-11.
The 2010 Blue dragons three-peated as Jayhawk Conference champions and were Region VI runners-up, placing
fourth in District III and finished 16th at the NJCAA Division
I Men’s Golf Championships. Sophomore Dale Middleton
was a second-team Ping/NJCAA All-American. Five HCC
Golfers earned all-Jayhawk Conference honors, including
Middleton and Ben Lowman earning first-team honors.
The 2008 and 2009 HCC men’s golf teams reached lofty
national heights never seen in the program’s 46-year history.
The 2009 Blue Dragons repeated as Jayhawk Conference
champions, winning their third league title in the four seasons. HCC won its third straight Region VI championship
and won the NJCAA District III championship for the second
time in three seasons. The Blue Dragons finished eighth at
the NJCAA Tournament, marking the third-straight season
that the Dragons have placed in the top 10 in the nation.
Dale Middleton became the highest national finisher in
Blue Dragon history, finishing sixth overall and becoming
a second-team NJCAA All-American. Freshman Nicky Maddison won the Jayhawk Conference championship and was a Ping/NJCAA firstteam All-American.
The 2008 Blue Dragons captured both the Jayhawk Conference championship and Region VI championship in the same year for the first
time. Alex Wasinger repeated as Region VI champion and gave the Blue Dragons three straight Region VI individual championships.
Also, the Blue Dragons finished in a tie for sixth place at the 2008 NJCAA Championships at Huntsville, Ala., the highest national placing in
Blue Dragon history. The Dragons were tied for third after the second round, marking the highest placing the Dragons have ever enjoyed at
any time in a national tournament.
BUILDING THE BLUE DRAGONS
In 2003, Jeremiah Nelson became only the second All-American (third team) in program history – the first Division I All-American ever. Nelson helped the Blue Dragons place fourth at conference, took a surprising Region VI runner-up trophy and earned the Blue Dragons’ best
national tournament place in program history with a 10th-place showing.
The 2004 season was a benchmark season for Blue Dragon golf. HCC had its best conference finish since 1986, finishing second. The
Dragons finished fifth and took a stellar seventh place at the NJCAA national tournament. Adam Young was a third-team All-American in
2004 in leading the Blue Dragons to their best finish all-time in a national championship tournament, which was at Mariah Hills Country Club
in Dodge City.
The 2005 Blue Dragons had their first Jayhawk Conference individual champion since 1984. In fact, the Blue Dragons finished 1-2 in the
individual league title race. Zac Fisher captured the team championship. Tyler Way was right behind to become the program’s first Jayhawk
Conference HCC finished second in the Jayhawk Conference for the second year in a row, took fourth at regionals and finished 13th in the
nation.
Young and the Blue Dragons finally broke through in 2006, winning a first-ever Jayhawk Conference team championship. Grady Pauls
became the second-straight Dragon golfer and third in program history to win a Jayhawk Conference individual championship, tying for the
league crown. The Blue Dragons finished third at Region VI and Tyler Way became the first Dragon golfer since1986 to win a Region VI
individual championship. The Blue Dragons finished 14th at the NJCAA national tournament.
While the Dragons didn’t repeat as Jayhawk Conference champion in 2007, Pauls won the league individual championship outright, marking
the third-straight season a Blue Dragon golfer has won the crown. The Blue Dragons finished third in the league, but Young’s team put it all
together at the right time, capturing the Region VI and District III championships at Wildhorse Country Club in Gothenburg, Neb. Wasinger
was the Region VI/District III medalist. The 2007 Blue Dragons went on to finish 10th at the NJCAA national tournament. Pauls became
Young’s third All-American, earning third-team status.
Before Young took over the Blue Dragon men’s golf program, he served as an assistant coach for the Hutchinson Community College
women’s basketball team for two seasons. The Lady Dragons were 44-20 in those two seasons.
Before coming to HCC in 1997, Young was at the University of Nebraska where he was an assistant coach for the Lady Husker women’s
basketball program under Angela Beck for three years. Nebraska was 51-33 in his three years in Lincoln.
Young is a native of Kearney, Neb. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1993.
Young’s wife, Kricket, is a pediatric dentist in Hutchinson. The couple has three children: Cole, Kennedy and Carter.
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