Ben Warian capped off the 2023-24 college season by nearly winning the NCAA Stanford Regional and then making the cut and fiinishing 25th at the NCAA Championships, out of a 156 -player field. So it came as no surprise this week when he was awarded Ping Division I All-American Honorable Mention.
The senior from Stillwater, by way of Hill-Murray High School, played in 12 stroke-play events during the season. He finished in the top 20 11 times, including a first-place finish at the High Meadows Intercollegiate, where he set Gopher team records for lowest 36-hole score (128) and 54-hole score (198). Warian averaged exactly 70.0 strokes per round as a senior and led the team in rounds under par (8), score to par (-15) and lowest round (63).
Max Herendeen, the No. 1 player for Illinois, was the only player to beat Warian in the regional. Herendeen put together a 54-hole total of 197 at the Stanford University Course. Warian finished two behind at 199.
Warian is the first Gopher to be named an All-American since Angus Flanagan in 2020.
Last summer, Warian tied for third in the Minnesota State Amateur, but he is expected to turn professional in the next few weeks.