Like all aspects of life, college athletics has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to changes in scholarship levels, recruiting rules and academics at every level. Despite these challenges, graduates of the Congaree Global Golf Initiative have continued to thrive in the classroom and on the course.
Seventeen students from the high school class of 2021 will begin their collegiate golf careers this season with student-athletes signing on to compete at schools all across the country. Two graduates will be attending the College of Charleston, giving CGGI a presence on both the school’s men’s and women’s teams. The pipeline from Ridgeland to Boca Raton, FL is continuing with Kaleb Palm becoming the third CGGI graduate to attend Florida Atlantic University. Several students also signed on to compete at Big 12 Conference schools, with Calum Scott joining Texas Tech University and Olivia McCrystal joining the University of Cincinnati, which will become part of the conference in the next few years.
The full list of collegiate golfers from the class of 2021 is below.
Cameron Johnstone: CGGI class of 2020, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
Olivia McCrystal: CGGI class of 2020, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Tyler Mistretta: CGGI class of 2020, Florida Southern College
Antonella Omisolo: CGGI class of 2020, WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Grant Passi: CGGI class of 2020, COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS
Calum Scott: CGGI class of 2020, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Victoria Grace Witouski: CGGI class of 2020, UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON (WV)
Kaley Campbell: CGGI class of 2019, AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY
Cam Guidry: CGGI class of 2019, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
Saketh Hegde: CGGI class of 2019, Saint Peter’s University
Fabrice Laude: CGGI class of 2019, WEBBER INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Kaleb Palm: CGGI class of 2019, FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Jake Peacock: CGGI class of 2019, WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
Shawn Sehra: CGGI class of 2019, XAVIER UNIVERSITY
Borina Sutikto: CGGI class of 2019, Santa Clara University
MK Talledo: CGGI class of 2019, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
Lucia Vasquez: CGGI class of 2019, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
Additionally, a number of CGGI graduates have received academic scholarships to attend some of America’s top universities. Harrison Hutchings has enrolled at the University of Michigan, which was recently ranked the No. 3 public school by U.S. News & World Report. Hutchings, who attended CGGI in 2018, also received the prestigious Chick Evans Scholarship. Ben Nganga, who attended CGGI virtually in 2020, earned a scholarship to attend Indiana University, which is also ranked among the top public colleges in the country.
Because of the challenges posed by COVID-19, a number of international students are continuing to have discussions with college coaches with the aim of enrolling in 2022.
Congratulations to all of these students for their outstanding accomplishments.
