Men's Golf | 07/25/23 | 9:11 AM

HELENA, Mont. – Head Golf Coach Bennett MacIntyre has announced the newest crop of Fighting Saints to join his teams in the Fall of 2023.

The 2023 recruiting class is large in both volume and quality on both the Men's and Women's side. MacIntyre hit the recruiting trail hard this year, bringing on a total of 12 new additions (six men, six women).
 
"This is a great class, one with a lot of upside and opportunity for the freshman to come in and play varsity right away." MacIntyre said. "High-character individuals who get it done in the classroom and come from great families. It will be a very solid core group of students to build around in the coming years. We now have one of the largest college golf team rosters in the country, and coach Patrick Harris and I are eager to get to work with them in the coming weeks and well into the future."
 
The Saints, eager to build off of third place finishes on each side of the competition, will have an abundance of talent ready to push each other to new heights during the upcoming season.
The group features a mix of local talent, and several out-of-state players that will have the opportunity to come in and compete right out of the gate.

The Saints return seven players from last year's women's squad that didn't have any graduating seniors on the women's side. 
 
"Celi has a ton of potential and she will do great things during her time at Carroll." MacIntyre said. "We are thrilled that we were able to keep her close to home."
 
Women:
Celi Chapman / FR / Montana City, Mont. (Boulder HS)
One of the highest profile players from the greater Helena area in quite some time, Chapman joins the Saints after a stellar prep career. A four (and a half) year Academic All-State selection, Chapman excels both on the course and in the classroom. On the course, Chapman boasts an individual Montana B State Champion title as a junior, as well as individual runner-up finishes in her sophomore and senior seasons. In total, Chapman finished with five All-State selections across two different classifications, and was twice named as the Helena Independent Record's Area Golfer of the Year.

Olivia Wyatt / FR / Banks, Ore. (Banks HS)
Wyatt, a standout linkster from Oregon had a great high school career. The four-year letter winner was three-times named to the Cowapa League All-League and All-Region teams. In addition, she was named All-District three-times and qualified for the Oregon state championship tournament.

Ellie Baxter / FR / Thompson Falls, Mont. (Thompson Falls HS)
Ellie will not be the only Baxter at Carroll. She joins her sister, Megan, a junior on the Women's team. Baxter is another Montana product with a terrific prep resume. As a sophomore she finished third at her divisional and ninth at the Montana State B tournament. She improved on both as a junior, finishing second at the divisional meet and fifth at state. Baxter capped her high school career with a third-place finish at the state tournament this spring.

Maddy Olson / FR / Spokane, Wash. (Joel E. Ferris HS)
Olson is relatively new to the sport, having picked up the game within the last five years, but has shown immense growth and potential. At Joel E. Ferris High School, she was named team captain in both her junior and senior seasons. During both of those years, she was a district qualifier and was presented with the team's coaches award for her accomplishments in the 2022 season.

Kate Williams / FR / Portland, Ore. (Jesuit HS)
Williams is another promising young player that will look to make an impact for the Saints. During her time in high school, she was an Academic All-State selection, in addition to being a valuable part of back-to-back team State Championships. In her junior season, Williams was named the team's most improved player.

Olivia Violett / FR / Great Falls, Mont. (Great Falls Central Catholic HS)
Rounding out the Women's class is another Montanan in Olivia Violett. She makes the quick trip south to Helena after a highly successful prep career in Great Falls. In 2020-21 she was named Academic All-State, as well as an All-Conference performer and State tournament qualifier. She repeated that the following season, highlighted by a top-10 finish at the divisional tournament.
On the Men's side, reloading a depleted roster was key for the 2023-24 season.

"We have less of a veteran presence and are very young on the men's side," MacIntyre said. "We have a chance to start two to four freshmen on varsity depending how things go when we ramp up in August. Once these guys adjust to the length of the courses in the college game, I think we will be in good shape and will have lots of experience in the coming years."

Men:
JT Slivinski / FR / Montpelier, Idaho (Bear Lake HS)
A product of game, with both parents actively working in the golf industry, Slivinski will be a terrific addition to the Saints. He had an outstanding prep career, with his team finishing as district champions twice. Individually, Slivinski was a three-time district champion. He finished fifth at the State tournament as a junior and sixth in his senior season.

TJ Fierling / FR / North Bend, Wash. (Mount Si HS)
Fierling comes to Helena with several individual titles to his name from his high school career in Washington. He was one of five players awarded First Team All-KingCo Conference after finishing top-four in scoring average during conference events. He scored district points for his team in eight out of nine events, securing three runner-up finishes and a pair of medalist honors at Mount Si High School.

Jackson Hammond / FR / Scottsdale, Ariz. (Coconino HS)
Hammond, a Scottsdale, Ariz. Native cited the tight-knight sense of community at Carroll as a deciding factor on joining the Saints. During his prep career, he accrued 10 separate high school match wins. Hammond finished in third at his section tournament, and finished his time ranked No. 18 in the state of Arizona.

Michael Wall / FR / Johnstown, Colo. (Roosevelt HS)
A native of the Centennial State, Wall joins the Saints roster after serving as his high school's team captain in his senior season. The four-year letter winner was named Academic All-State in both his junior and senior seasons, the only two years players are eligible for the honor in Colorado.

Ben Tran / FR / Portland, Ore. (Jesuit HS)
Tran, the Portland native, joins Kate Williams as the second Jesuit product to board the Carroll roster. His Jesuit team was named Metro League Champions, and he played a number of OGA tournaments and events leading up to his decision.

Parker Puyear / FR / Dillon, Mont. (Beaverhead County HS)
Another backyard find, Puyear saw several successes in his time as a Beaver. The Dillon native qualified for the Montana Class A State tournament three consecutive seasons from 2021-2023. The Montanan cited Carroll's excellent reputation both athletically and academically during the recruiting process as a deciding factor.

The incoming freshmen will join the returning team members on campus in late August to immediately begin preparations for a return to the top of Frontier Conference.

The first Frontier Conference event of the season will be hosted by University of Providence at Meadowlark Golf course on September 11-12.

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