By Mark Carpenter-

Once again, West Union High School golf coach Carl Schneider will be sending one of his student-athletes to the next level. In a ceremony held at the high school on Tuesday, Jan. 29, Dragons’ senior golfer Andrew Sapp inked his letter of intent to continue his golf career at Ohio Christian University. Sapp becomes the latest in a long line of WUHS golfers who have been able to take their talents from high school to the collegiate level.
With the reputation of success of the West Union golf program, it is becoming “par for the course” for the Dragons to have their golfers spotted by college coaches as Sapp was before deciding on Ohio Christian.
“I was looking for a school with a smaller campus,” said Sapp. “I really wanted to just play golf for enjoyment and not super, super competitive so Ohio Christian seemed like a more relaxed atmosphere. I liked the people there and the class sizes are really small.”
“I went to a Preview Day at the school and the coach actually came and found me, realizing that I played golf, asked me if I was interested, and I was. We had lunch together and everything came from there.”
When asked what he would remember most about his time as a West Union golfer, Sapp had a unique response.
“I will always remember the end-of-the-season practices we had,we would do cross-country golf or practice the weirdest shots we could think of. It was just really fun.”
“When Andrew started on the golf team, it was back when we had those couple of teams that went to state and he wasn’t one of those top five golfers,” said Coach Schneider. “He was sitting in that six-seven range which was tough but it gave him something to work towards. He started taking lessons in the city and really began to step up his game and he decided not to be on the outside looking in. He worked hard his junior and senior years and became a real strong part of our golf team.”
“I knew he wanted to try and play some college golf and now he has the opportunity to do it.”
Also on hand for the signing ceremony was Ohio Christian men’s golf coach Lane Patrick, now in his second year of coaching both the men’s and women’s teams at the college.
“I have been trying to recruit Andrew for about a year and a half now,” said Coach Patrick. “He started visiting OCU and it got on my radar screen that he played golf so I began following him at the sectional and district tournaments. He is a very solid young man with a lot of potential and we’re glad to have him. We’re really hoping to watch him grow and mature as a person and a golfer at Ohio Christian.”
“Andrew will likely come in the sixth or seventh position and I’m going to take him as an individual and if he maintains that, we’ll see if he can move up into that starting squad.”
The Ohio Christian “Trailblazers” are an NAIA school and a member of the River States Conference.
While at OCU, Sapp plans to study Business and also take some pre-requisites off campus to prepare for medical school.

West Union senior Andrew Sapp recently signed his letter of intent to continue his golf career at Ohio Christian University. Pictured above at the Jan. 29 signing ceremony were: Front row, from left, Susan Adamson (grandmother), Andrew Sapp, and Rick Adamson (grandfather); Back row, from left, WUHS Athletic Director Jason Little, WUHS Principal Roger Taylor, OCU Men’s Golf Coach Lane Patrick, and WUHS Golf Coach Carl Schneider. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)