Four Buccaneers receive all-conference honors following SoCon Championship

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (April 22, 2015) – The Southern Conference office released its men’s golf postseason honors following Tuesday’s championship and ETSU had four Buccaneers receive all-conference honors, including junior Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) being tabbed Player of the Year and head coach Fred Warren being selected Coach of the Year. 

Meronk, who won the 20th conference player of the year honor in program history, was joined by junior Chris Hickman (Centreville, Md.) on the all-conference team, while Cayman Ratliff (Kingsport, Tenn.) was placed on the all-freshman team. 

Meronk has created quite the resume in 2014-15 as he has been ranked as high as No. 14 nationally in the collegiate polls, while cracking the top-50 of the World Amateur Rankings. The Buccaneer junior has played in all 12 tournaments for the Blue and Gold this season, posting two wins and nine top-10 finishes. Meronk won the season-opening tournament at Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 22-23) and earned co-medalist honors two weeks later at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate (Oct. 6-7), while also tying for the SoCon Championship at 9-under-par 207 before falling in a playoff to two-time defending champion J.T. Poston of Western Carolina. Meronk, who is currently ranked 17th nationally by Golfstat, registered four straight top-10 finishes to start the season and recorded his lowest round of the year with a 66 in the second round of the Warrior Princeville Invitational – where he finished tied for seventh. The Wroclaw, Poland native was named SoCon Golfer of the Week (April 8) after finishing third at the Mason Rudolph Championship. In addition, Meronk leads ETSU in scoring average (70.3) and has totaled 28 rounds of par or better this season, including 12 rounds in the 60s. 

Despite having his season hindered by injury, Hickman still managed to string together a pair of top-five finishes in his seven tournament appearances for the Buccaneers. Hickman finished tied for third at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate at 4-under-par-209, while following that up with a strong effort at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate a week later by tying for fourth at 5-under-par 139. The Centreville, Md., native – who ranks second on the team with a 73.0 scoring average – has totaled 11 rounds of par or better and three in the 60s in 2014-15. 

Ratliff appeared in eight tournaments in his first season with the Bucs, playing five as an individual. The Kingsport, Tenn., native registered a 76.4 scoring average in 22 rounds played in 2014-15, while his lowest round came at he Wolfpack Intercollegiate (second round) when he carded an even-par 71. 

For the 18th time in program history and the 10th time during his tenure at ETSU, Coach Warren captured Coach of the Year honors. Warren led the Blue and Gold to three tournament wins this season, while registering his league-leading 13th SoCon title on Tuesday en route to advancing to the NCAA Regional for the 24th time in school history. Warren coached the Bucs to four individual medalist honors as Meronk and Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland) won a pair of titles, while the team recorded nine top-10 finishes in 2014-15.

The Bucs will now make their 24th appearance in the NCAA Regional after earning the league’s automatic berth. The Golf Channel will announce the regionals on Monday, May 4 at 10 a.m.  

ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for “Buc Updates.” Click here to sign up today!  

For more information on Buccaneer men’s golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s golf page.