SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna University men’s golf team will open play at the 2003 NCAA Golf Championship at 12:50 p.m. on Monday at the Dornoch Golf Club in Delaware, Ohio.

The Crusaders are participating in the NCAA championship 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.

Susquehanna will play with Williams and St. Lawrence during the first two days of the event, teeing off on Tuesday at 8:50 a.m. at Dornoch, which is partially designed by PGA golfer Fuzzy Zoeller and is located 20 miles north of Columbus.

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 in the Crusader contingent at this year’s championship.

Datt (Mill Hall, PA/Central Mountain H.S.), who finished 72nd at last year’s NCAA championship, won the 2003 MAC individual title by six strokes and leads the team with a 76.9 stroke average this season. He has a career average of 77.5 in 35 ½ career rounds.

Hubbard (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor H.S.) took 92nd place at last year’s national championship and is averaging 79.0 this season and 78.9 in his career.

Krumpotich (New Market, MD/Linganore H.S.), who will look to improve on last year’s 95th-place NCAA finish, is averaging 77.2 strokes in 10 rounds this season and 78.5 in three seasons at Susquehanna.

Yarger (Paxinos, PA/Northumberland Christian School) placed 110th at the NCAA championship last year and is averaging 78.9 strokes per round this year. For his career, Yarger is averaging 80.0 strokes in 47 ½ rounds, making him the most experienced of the Crusader quintet in terms of rounds played.

Reid (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg H.S.), who will be playing in his first NCAA championship meet, averaged 79.8 shots per round this season and has a career average of 81.4 in 43 rounds.

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.