CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Freshman Troy Loughry yanked blades of grass from the tee box of his 18th hole and, protecting the two-stroke lead between finishing a national championship tournament as a first-team All-American or a second-teamer, watched the blades disappear to his right in a 7 mph wind.

As that wind late Friday afternoon patted his Butler County Community College polo shirt against his back, Loughry also watched his drive disappear to his right.

The ball arced over a column of pine trees – “No,” Loughry said as he dropped his club and as the ball landed somewhere in the unseen rough of a neighboring fairway.

The Pioneer then made what BC3 golf coach Bill Miller called a “great” second shot, and later parred the hole to secure his finish as the first first-team All-American in BC3 golf history.

Loughry ended with a 2-over 74 on Friday and concluded the four-round National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national championship tournament at Chautauqua Golf Club with a 297 and in fifth place.

The Grove City High School graduate ended one stroke ahead of Carson Witherspoon, Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, N.C., and two ahead of Lurner Benton, Georgia Military College, Milledgeville, Ga.

Andreas Huber, Sandhills, won the individual national championship tournament with a 289.

Loughry becomes the fifth individual BC3 golfer to receive the prestigious postseason award at the national championship tournament, where the top 18 finishers are named All-Americans.

He also becomes the fourth BC3 student-athlete to be named an NJCAA Division III All-American since November.

The Pioneers on Friday shot a collective 330, their best round of the national championship tournament and with a four-day 1,340 placed sixth – their best in five appearances at Chautauqua. BC3 placed 12th in 2009, 13th in 2013, and seventh in 2015 and in 2019.

Liam Kosior, a Neshannock High graduate, shot an 81 on Friday, and ended with a 327 and tied for 20th place with Samuel Arrigo, Jefferson Community College, Watertown, N.Y.

“It was good to bounce back today,” Kosior said about his third-round 85. … “There are some really good players here.”

BC3’s Jack Mason, Freeport, shot an 87 on Friday and ended with a 360; Tanner Hohmann, an 88 and finished with a 362; and Collin Witouski, a 91 and ended with a 371.

Only the lowest four scores of each player in each round are tallied in the team standings.

Like Loughry, Kosior, Mason and Hohmann are BC3 freshmen.

“It helps what to know what to expect next year,” Hohmann said. “What I need to shoot. What I need to do differently. How well I need to play to help the team.”

BC3 qualified for a berth in the national championship tournament by winning the NJCAA Division III Region 20 title in May.

Sandhills on Friday won its second consecutive NJCAA Division III national championship tournament team title and third overall with a 1,173.

Loughry was one stroke ahead of Witherspoon and two ahead of Benton in the race for first-team All-American status when he used a 4-iron to tee off on his 18th hole, the 424-yard No. 9.

“A big gust of wind, left to right,” Loughry said.

“Probably the windiest day that we’ve had,” Miller said.

Loughry found his ball in the rough of a neighboring fairway, 220 yards from a green obstructed by the column of pine trees.

“I had to navigate a really good 7-iron back into play,” he said.

Loughry’s second shot could be heard grazing limbs before it landed 60 yards in front of the green.

His third shot put the ball on the green and, after he sank a 10-foot putt on the par-4 hole to guarantee his first-team All-American status, Loughry received a kiss on his cheek from his grandfather, Donald Loughry, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., whom the BC3 golfer hadn’t seen in a year.

Donald Loughry pointed to the area where his grandson had taken his second shot on his final hole, the rough of a neighboring fairway obstructed by the column of pine trees.

“Man, you hit that shot right in there,” Donald Loughry said. “I thought you were in trouble.”

Added Miller: “He had to navigate around a tree and made a great second shot.”

BC3 golfers Matthew Heighes in 1996 and Stefan Carlsson in 2014 became second-team All-Americans; and Michael Cuscino in 2008 and Carlsson in 2015 third-team All-Americans. Thomas Dimon in 2015 was an honorable mention.

Loughry won the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference men’s title in October and the NJCAA Division III Region 20 crown in May.

As an All-American, Loughry earned an automatic invitation to return and compete in the 2023 NJCAA Division III national championship tournament at Chautauqua.

“To be an All-American, it’s a dream,” Loughry said. … “It’s playing at the national tournament and competing with the best. And to be first-team, and the first one in the school’s history, it’s an honor. It’s a great privilege.”