By: Todd Lindenmuth
LongwoodLancers.com

FARMVILLE, Va. – When Longwood head men's golf coach Kevin Fillman was at a junior tournament recruiting in Ohio, there appeared a name in the field that stood out to him.
 
That name was Contini.
 
However, it wasn't a Contini that was familiar to Fillman in his days of playing basketball and baseball growing up in Northeast Ohio. It was now-Longwood senior Nick Contini, who was playing in a tournament in Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 2013.
 
"I recognized the name Contini immediately because I had grown up with some Contini's back in my hometown in Ohio," said Longwood men's golf coach Kevin Fillman. "So, when I first saw Nick's name at a tournament, that's the first thing that caught my eye."
 
Fast forward to March 2018 and Contini, a product of Granville, Ohio, is now the elder statesman on a Lancer squad that features a roster with two juniors and two sophomores among its top five players.
 
He's vaulted himself into one of the top players in the Big South and is in the midst of a second straight career season as the Lancers open the spring portion of their schedule Monday morning at Bash at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
 
Contini enjoyed a breakout junior season, improving his stroke average by more than two shots from his sophomore (75.59) to junior (73.42) season in which he was ranked 13th among all golfers in the Big South in scoring average.
 
Among that dominant junior season was a stretch of golf throughout the fall in which Contini didn't shoot a round more than two-over par in his final 10 rounds played. Among that stretch that began in the final round of the EKU Invitational and extended through the end of that fall season he collected top 20 finishes in four of Longwood's five tournaments.
 
For a program that was Longwood's first to qualify for the postseason in the transition to Division I to play in the 2007 NCAA Regionals, has had an All-American in Tim White and had success in the program's days at the Division II level, Contini's name has ascended among the top of that group as he currently ranks fifth all-time with a 74.82 scoring average.
 
Among that dynamic run in the fall, Fillman had the opportunity to take Contini back to their home state of Ohio while the Vice Presidential Debate took over Longwood's campus in Farmville.
 
During that week in Ohio, Contini played some high-quality golf where he posted three rounds under-par, highlighted by a second-round seven-under par 65. That performance led a Lancer squad that finished fourth of 11 teams in the field.
 
"That tournament was an opportunity that came up because of the Vice Presidential debate," Fillman said. "He hit the ball incredibly well that week and was able to make putts to post three straight rounds under-par, two in the 60's. That's not an easy task."
 
For Contini, he informed family and friends that the tournament was on Longwood's schedule once the schedule was unveiled during the summer.
 
"It was so fun for me to play in Ohio," Contini said. "Its closer for my family to visit and watch me play which is just awesome. It was just really fun going back to Ohio for at least one tournament you know during my college career.
 
"I felt really comfortable on that golf course and it just was something I've seen a lot of."
 
Contini's improved play on the golf course has given Fillman a formidable 1-2 punch within the Big South, along with Jordan Boulton. Like Contini, Boulton has been a mainstay for the Lancers himself with his 73.67 stroke average.
 
"Nick and Jordan – I'll also put Brandon [Weaver] in that group – have really challenged each other on the golf course," Fillman said. "As a coach, you have a good idea of what those guys are going to do on a day in, day out basis.
 
Contini and Boulton have pushed each other on the golf course, but the two players – according to Fillman and Contini – are very different in the way their approach the game. Where the strength of Contini's game relies heavily on his ball striking, where he can hit and shape shots that few are capable of dreaming of, the strength of Boulton's game comes in the short game, specifically with the putter in his hand.
 
"It's been awesome. It's fun and I love everybody on my team," Contini said of the dynamic pair that he and Boulton have formed. "It's so fun to hang out with them outside of golf and they're all great guys. We really gel. On a lot of teams, there's a lot of rivalries and conflicts but everyone is so easy going."
 
That competitiveness between Boulton and Contini has extended into this past fall where just more than one shot per round separates the two players.
 
Contini is on pace to better his career year in 2016-17, as he enters the spring with a scoring average of 72.21 along with one top 10 while Boulton claimed a win at the EKU Invitational and three top 10 finishes.
 
For Contini, he begins his last semester of competitive golf with Monday's first round of Bash at the Beach. He wants to help the Lancers NCAA Regionals, a place where the Lancers haven't been since the 2006-07 season.
 
A familiar name on the leaderboard led Fillman to Contini and the senior to become one of the staples of Longwood men's golf, as he begins the final chapter of that journey Monday in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
 
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