SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna University golf team has earned one of 23 team berths to the 2003 NCAA Division III Championships, to be held May 12-15 at Dornoch Golf Club in Delaware, Ohio.

The Crusaders were selected for the sixth time in the last eight seasons after winning their ninth consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference championship at Shawnee Country Club on April 26-27.

Susquehanna has appeared in the NCAA tournament in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002 but finished no better than 16th in any of its previous trips, all under the direction of 14th-year head coach and director of athletics Don Harnum.

A total of 120 golfers will participate in the four-day event, including five at-large participants. Three teams were selected from each of six regions, along with five at-large teams. Wesley and Allegheny join Susquehanna from the Mid-Atlantic Region in the field.

Four of the five players in the Crusader lineup competed at last year’s NCAA championship, when Susquehanna finished 22nd in the field of 23 teams.

Juniors John Krumpotich and Buddy Yarger and sophomores Matt Hubbard and Steve Datt will be joined by senior captain Ryan Reid (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg H.S.) in the Crusader contingent at this year’s championship.

Datt (Mill Hall, PA/Central Mountain H.S.), the 2003 MAC champion, finished 72nd at last year’s NCAA championship while Hubbard (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor H.S.) took 92nd place, Krumpotich (New Market, MD/Linganore H.S.) finished 95th and Yarger (Paxinos, PA/Northumberland Christian School) was 110th.

Defending champion Guilford is among the 22 other schools in the field, along with 2001 champion Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 2000 champion Greensboro and Methodist, which won nine team titles in 10 years from 1990 through 1999.