How Butler County Community College’s Voltz, Downing performed in NJCAA golf national championship
By Bill Foley
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Butler County Community College’s Cory Voltz on Friday shot the lowest of his four scores in the 2024 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national championship and finished tied with Pioneers teammate Xander Downing in a field of 84 golfers.
Voltz followed an 83, 89 and 81 with an 80 in the final round. Downing shot an 85, 79, 77 and 92. Each ended with a 333 and in 44th place at the par-72 Chautauqua Golf Club Lake Course in Chautauqua, N.Y.
Voltz and Downing qualified as individuals for the national championship by placing second and third, respectively, in the NJCAA Division III Region 20 tournament May 13-14 in Apollo.
Golfers representing 11 teams or competing as individual qualifiers competed in the national championship.
Voltz’s scores dropped Thursday and Friday after he reduced the speed of his swing in the tee box and increased accuracy.
“Normally my driver is one of the best parts of my game,” Voltz said. “In the first two rounds, it was absolutely killing me. I was in the trees most holes and had to chip out most times. It cost me a lot.”
Voltz “was just spraying,” BC3 golf coach Bill Miller said. “Sometimes it was left. Sometimes it was right. One of the things about Cory is that over the past several years, he is one of the players who hits the ball very, very straight.”
Voltz said he started to “take my time with swinging. I was trying a bit too hard. So I kind of toned it down for the last two rounds, played a bit more conservative, tried to play it as safely as possible, and for the most part, it worked out.”
Voltz is a graduate of Knoch High School and a computer information systems-programming specialist student at BC3, where he has played golf for the Pioneers for two years.
Downing won the fall season-ending Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference individual championship Oct. 7 and Voltz placed second.
Downing is a graduate of Butler High, a general studies student at BC3 and will return to the Pioneers’ squad for the fall 2024 and spring 2025 seasons.
“I think (competing in the national championship) is going to help a lot,” Downing said. “I thought I would do better than I ended up playing. I never played in a four-day tournament before, so it showed me how well you have to play and for how long. Now I have the experience and know what to expect.”
Voltz and Downing were selected to the 2023 WPCC all-conference team based on regular-season scoring averages.
Golfers with the lowest score after four rounds at the NJCAA Division III national championship become All-Americans.
Daniel Aitken, Sandhills Community College (Pinehurst, N.C.) won the individual title with a 5-under 283 and with four teammates was named an All-American.
Sandhills won its fourth consecutive team championship with a four-day 1,140, which was a 12-under-par total. Georgia Military College (Milledgeville) finished second among teams with an 1,188.
The Pioneers’ spring season features regional play, regional tournaments and possible national championship appearances in which golfers compete for All-American status. BC3’s fall season concludes with the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship tournament.
Bill Foley is the coordinator of news and media content for Butler County Community College
