WACO, Texas (April 13, 2019) – Former Oklahoma Christian star
Sam Johnston was named Saturday to the Heartland Conference's 20th Anniversary Men's Golf Team, which was released the day before the league's last conference tournament will begin.
Of the 10 players on the list, Johnston – who played for OC from 2012 to 2016 – was the only one not from either St. Edward's (Texas) or St. Mary's (Texas).
The list includes Heartland record holders, All-America honorees and Heartland individual award winners. To qualify for the list, players must have been named as Heartland player of the year and received All-America honors at least once, or received multiple All-America honors while playing for a full Heartland member.
Johnston, from San Diego, Calif., was arguably the greatest player in Heartland history. He was one of only two league players ever to earn NCAA Division II All-America honors three times, making the second-team list in 2013 and 2014 and the third-team list in 2016, a year he won the Division II South Central-West Super Region title and led the Eagles in qualifying for the Division II Championship.
He was the first OC athlete in any sport to make a Division II All-America team and remains the only OC athlete to earn Division II All-America honors in three separate academic years.
He was the Heartland's player of the year in 2015 and 2016 and would have been in both 2013 and 2014 as well, had the conference not refused to present individual honors to players from schools in the NCAA membership process. He did make the All-Heartland first-team list all four seasons and was a National Christian College Athletic Association All-American in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Johnston won seven tournaments, including the Super Regional, and was named as the Heartland's player of the week nine times and the NCCAA student-athlete of the week eight times. He holds Heartland records for single-season stroke average (71.5 in 2012-13), lowest single-round score (63) and 54-hole score (197) – both in the U.C. Ferguson Classic at Lincoln Park Golf Club's West Course in Oklahoma City in September 2012 – as well as for career wins and career scoring average (72.15).
He also was successful in amateur competitions outside OC. In July 2015, he finished 12th overall – and was the low mid-amateur – in the prestigious Trans-Mississippi Championship at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kansas, shooting 2-under for the tournament. Later that summer, he was the runner-up in the Oklahoma Golf Association's Stroke Play Championship in 2015 at Chickasaw Pointe Golf Club in Kingston.
He reached the quarterfinals of the Oklahoma State Amateur Championship in 2014 and the round of 16 in the California Amateur Championship in 2013.
Joining Johnston on the all-time Heartland squad were Jamie Amoretti (2004-07), Luke Antonelli (2002-04), Emilio Gonzalez (2017-present) and Matt Vela (2008-11) of St. Mary's and Nick Cristea (2003-07), Jose Hernandez (2011-15), Collin Mayer (2006-10), Blake Slaughter (2003-07) and Santiago Quintero (2008-12) of St. Edward's.
