No team from the Northeast has ever won the NCAA Division 3 men’s golf championship.
Sure, a couple have come close. Skidmore (N.Y.) was the runner-up to the power of that era, Methodist (N.C.), in 1996.
Back in 1977, during the infancy of the championship, David Downing led UMass Dartmouth (then known as Southeastern Massachusetts University) to a second-place finish.
History is one reason why Babson, despite a No. 1 regional ranking and No. 4 national ranking, will be considered a dark horse if it merits an at-large bid to this year’s NCAA, which it should.
But that doesn’t take away from what the Beavers have accomplished this season as they prepare to return to the NCAAs for the first time since 2017.