Owensboro Catholic boys golf standout Jakob Wellman is staying in the Commonwealth to continue his athletic career, signing with Murray State University on Wednesday.
Wellman was extremely competitive during his tenure with the Aces, competing with the team since he was in eighth grade.
When Wellman arrived at Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Bretnea Thomas said he was trying to find his place on the team.
With big shoes to fill Wellman took on the challenge, setting a precedent of hard work and success in the Aces program.
“He’s been a city-county champion, he’s been a regional champion, he’s been part of teams that have been region champions, region runner-up and he’s been to the state tournament every single year that he has competed here at Owensboro Catholic,” Thomas said.
Wellman said that winning that elusive first regional title is one of his fondest memories during his time at Owensboro Catholic.
“We had never won region as a team until then,” Wellman said. “So that was kind of a big step in our program and I think it helped me kind of learn stuff from him (Hayden Riney) and the rest of the team to kind of carry forward through the years here.”
As shown when plays on the course, Thomas said that the Racers are getting a hard worker and great leader added to their roster and that he will be a huge asset to them in the future.
“The maturity that he shows on the course, the maturity that he shows in practice, his ability to kind of bring his team together, I just know that is something that he takes to Murray and they are going to be so thankful to have him there to kind of glue his team together there as well,” Thomas said.
Wellman said he’s excited to play under Murray State Head Coach Daniel DeLuca, noting that he spent a lot of time recruiting him and feels as though he is in the best hands possible on and off the golf course.
“Coach DeLucas took a lot of time with me,” Wellman said. “We had numerous phone calls, text messages and he came to watch me play a few times. But one thing that I think coaches look for that is very important is just kind of who you are as an individual, because they’re going to have you for four years, so you need to have good character and present good qualities about yourself that every person that you interact with will like.”
As far as Murray State itself goes, Wellman is excited to join a sports heavy university and homey feel on campus without it being too small.
“I liked that everything was there,” Wellman said. “It’s small, but it’s not small enough to be like ‘what am I going to do here?’ There’s good sports. Basketball is big there. I feel like I’ll have a good opportunity to get good grades and not have a lot of distractions outside of golf and school.”
Wellman said that Murray State will be getting someone who is going to give their absolute all in every aspect of being a student-athlete and intends to lead by example.
“I’m going to bring full commitment,” Wellman said. “I’m going to do my part in the classroom. On the team whether I’m playing or not—but I definitely expect to play—I’m just going to make sure that my effort is 100% on the team and in the classroom.”
