The Capital University Crusaders have a foursome.

Sunday, May 06, 2001

The Capital University Crusaders have a foursome. They just need a fifth.

Enter Ironton Fighting Tigers senior golfer Bo McGinnis.

Capital coach Jim Collins signed McGinnis to a letter-of-intent to play golf, and he thinks the new recruit is just what his team needs to complete in the OAC next season.

"We had four pretty solid players, but you need five. We think Bo can come in and be an impact player," said Collins.

"I thought we played fairly well early last year, but in the conference tournament we didn’t play well. We were within two strokes of sixth place. We don’t lose anyone, and we think with Bo coming in we can be in the top three (in the tournament). We’ll find out a lot about him immediately in the fall. We’ll find out who our players are."

McGinnis looked at several schools including Otterbein, Denison, and Ohio Wesleyan. But he settled on Capital because it had more to offer him.

"I really like the coach and I like the players," said McGinnis who plans to major in communications.

McGinnis helped Ironton win the district championship and qualify for the state tournament for the seventh straight year. Ironton finished eighth in the field.

The play of McGinnis at the state tournament is what caught the eye of Collins.

"We signed four, and he’s the best player we’re recruiting," said Collins. "Those high places in the state tournament is what got me excited."

McGinnis said he was somewhat disappointed in his scores at the state tournament. He believed the whole Ironton team could have posted better scores.

"We expected to go back to the state. We thought we’d place higher (than the previous year) and maybe win. But you can’t complain about seven straight trips to the state finals," said McGinnis.

Moving from high school to college is a big step, and no one knows better than Ironton assistant coach and former Shawnee State All-American Tony Brown.

"Bo can play at the next level," Brown said. "He has to adjust to the college level. It’s a big adjustment, but once he does, he’ll do well.

"Like all golfers we’ve had to go play in college, myself included, you have to make that adjustment. Bo has a good short game, so he should adjust easier."

Ironton currently has Justin Collins and Ryan Hurley at Ohio State, Jimmy Bunker at Northern Kentucky, Derek Dufore at Life University, and Brad Washburn at Marshall. McGinnis said his former teammates inspired him.

"When you see Justin (Collins) and all the other guys going to college, it give you something to shoot for," said McGinnis.

Capital plays its home matches at The Willows in Groveport.