After helping the Flames advance to the NCAA Regionals for the 11^th time in the last 12 completed seasons, three Liberty’s men’s golfers have received all-state honors.

Liberty’s Jonathan Yaun was named to the 2023 VaSID All-State University Division Men’s Golf first team. The Flames’ Josh Ryan and Isaac Simmons took home second-team accolades. The Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) announced their 11-member 2023 VaSID All-State University Division Men’s Golf teams earlier today.

Liberty and Virginia dominated the all-state listing, taking home seven of the 11 all-state selections (Virginia – 4; Liberty – 3).

Virginia’s Ben James was named both the VaSID Men’s Golfer of the Year and VaSID Men’s Golf Rookie of the Year. Cavaliers’ Head Coach Bowen Sargent was named the VaSID Men’s Golf Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his coaching career.

Yaun had a banner season during his final year with the Flames. He led the team with a 70.95 season stroke average, which ranks third best in program history. He also finished the year ranked No. 53 in the country with 143 birdies.

Yaun led the Flames to their second ASUN Conference championship with a record-setting performance at the conference championship event in April. Yaun claimed medalist honors with an 18-under par 198 (68-63-67), setting a new program standard for the lowest individual 54-hole total in school history.

This is the second rookie honor for Ryan, who was also named the 2023 ASUN Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year. He was the top-ranked freshman golfer in the ASUN Conference this year (No. 206 by Golfstat) after finishing the regular season with an 88-2 record against ASUN golfers this season.

The native of Norristown, Pa., ranked second on Liberty’s roster with a 71.51 season stroke average. He has posted five top-20 finishes and played 17-of-39 rounds (43.6 percent) at par or better during his rookie season.

On the course for the Flames this season, Simmons finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 71.82 season stroke average, which is the best mark of his four-year career with the Flames.

He played 18-of-39 rounds at par or better this season (46.2 percent) and posted a career-best seven sub-70 rounds.

Simmons continued his stellar play following the Flames’ 2022-23 season when he became the second golfer in Liberty program history to qualify for the U.S. Open earlier in June.

2023 VaSID All-State University Division Men’s Golf Team

First Team
Ben James, Fr., Virginia
Jonathan Yaun, Sr., Liberty
Bryce Corbett, Sr., Radford
Cole Ekert, So., Richmond
Bryan Lee, Fr., Virginia

Second Team
Pietro Bovari, Sr., Virginia
Josh Ryan, Fr., Liberty
Isaac Simmons, R-Jr., Liberty
Daniel Azallion, Sr., Virginia Tech
Daniel Cheng, So., James Madison
Deven Patel, So., Virginia

VaSID Golfer of the Year – Ben James, Fr., Virginia
VaSID Coach of the Year – Bowen Sargent, Virginia
VaSID Rookie of the Year – Ben James, Virginia