SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Before the spring golf season began, Susquehanna University's 13th-year head coach Don Harnum said that if his team found someone to play consistent golf in the fifth spot, it's doubtful that the team would shoot higher than a round of 320.

Nonetheless, Harnum said he was confident that the team, barring a total breakdown, should finish atop the conference when the team again travels to Shawnee Country Club in Shawnee-on-the-Delaware, Pa. on Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28.

With the first four spots secure, the team went into the Susquehanna Tee-Off Tournament on March 21 with the fifth position still in limbo. After the day's round, however, that doubt was squashed when freshman Steve Datt (Mill Hall, PA/Central Mountain) won the tournament individual title with a 1-over-par 71, leading Susquehanna's B-team tie the Crusader first team.

Datt went on to win the Anthracite Golf Association Collegiate Invitational on April 1, and finished in the top-10 in seven of nine spring events. He is currently second on the team, averaging a score of 77.2 in 13 rounds this year.

Senior co-captain Ryan Franks (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon H.S.) will be expected to again lead the team at MACs after never finishing lower than fifth in his first three years. Franks is the only junior or senior of the five-person contingent headed to Shawnee-on-the-Delaware. Finishing in the top-10 in all but on of the team's spring tournaments, Franks won the individual title at the Susquehanna Invitational on April 11 with a career-best 2-under 68.

Last year, Franks finished third in the conference, three strokes behind Susquehanna's Chris Scagliotti who won with a total of 232. As a sophomore he finished fourth overall with a score of 240, and as a freshman he was also third with a score of 242.

Sophomore John Krumpotich (New Market, Md./Linganore H.S.) came into his own this year and is third on the team with a 77.4 average. A top-10 finisher in six of nine spring events, Krumpotich shot his best round in the fall with a 70 at the Sept. 27 Moravian Invitational.

Another freshman will be in the mix for Harnum, freshman Matt Hubbard (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor H.S.). Highly touted after a fall average of 77.5, Hubbard has been a solid part of the Crusader team this spring. Overall this year he has averaged 78.3, playing all 16 rounds of competition in the 2001-2002 year. He twice shot a personal best 73, first at the Susquehanna Fall Classic and also at the spring Tee-Off tourney.

A second sophomore, Buddy Yarger (Paxinos, Pa./Northumberland Christian School), completes the Crusader contingent. Despite an up and down season, Yarger has posted a consistent 79.7 average. His best round came last weekend on the first day of the Glenmaura National Collegiate Invitational, when he shot a 71. Last year at MACs, Yarger shot a 254 over 54 holes and finished 22nd.

After the best fall in program history including a low round of 302, Harnum expected big things out of this year's squad. They have lived up to his expectations, with all five regulars averaging below 80.