Denison University

Lauren Grogan enters her sixth season as the Head Men's and Women's Golf Coach at Denison University in 2024-25. 

The Denison women's golf team collected its fourth-straight North Coast Athletic Conference title and yet another appearance at the NCAA Championships. The Big Red won the NCAC by 12 strokes to secure the conference crown. The record-setting season concluded when Denison finished tied for 16th place in the team standings at the NCAA Championships in Nicholsville, Ky. Grogan and her staff were recognized as NCAC Coaching Staff of the Year for a fourth-straight year. Denison had three players finish in the top five at the NCAC Championships. Anna Klass picked up the NCAC Newcomer of the Year award. Five members of the Big Red secured All-NCAC honors. Ella McRoberts earned national recognition as an All-Region Second Team pick from the Women's Golf Coaches Association. Highlighting Denison's season outside of postseason competition were a first place finish at the Win Palmer Cup on April 15-16 and a second place finish at the Denison Spring Shootout on April 28. The Denison men finished in sixth place last season at the NCAC Championships. Jack Yurosek earned All-NCAC honors for a second-straight year. 

The 2022-23 season saw the Denison women's golf team win its third straight North Coast Athletic Conference Championship and advance to the national championship for the second time in three seasons. Senior Laine Hursh was the NCAC Player of the Year and was the NCAC Championship Medalist for the second time in her career while junior Kate Griffin was the NCAC Runner-up and freshman Isabella Dolan was the NCAC Newcomer of the Year. In addition, Coach Grogan and her staff earned the NCAC Coaching Staff of the Year award for the third season in a row while Hursh and Griffin were both named to the All-Great Lakes Region Team. It was the third season in a row Denison's women's golf put two players on the all-region team. At the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship, Denison finished in 17th place while Dolan and Hursh finished in a tie for 36th place and 38th place, respectively. During the regular season, Denison compiled five top-six team finishes, including two during the Spring season at the Savannah Invitational (Mar. 6-7) and The Max and Susan Stith Invitational (Apr. 3-4). In its first two tournaments of the Fall season, Denison finished third in the Lynn Schweizer Invitational (Sept. 4) and was then fourth at the Illinois Wesleyan Fall Classic (Sept. 17-18) after shooting a season-low team score of 301 in the second round. To round out its Fall schedule, Denison finished second out of 10 teams at the Guy & Jeanne Kuhn Memorial Invitational (Sept. 25-26) and finished in a tie for seventh place out of 12 nationally-ranked teams and 24 total teams at the Golfweek D3 Invitational (Oct. 16-18).

The Denison men's golf team closed out the 2023 NCAC Championship in second place for the second year in a row and earned five top-five team finishes during the regular season, including a team championship at the Polar Bear Easter Classic (Apr. 7-8) and a pair of second-place finishes at the Ted Barclay Invitational (Sept. 3-4) and the Wabash College Invitational (Oct. 10-11). At the Golfweek D3 Invitational (Oct. 16-18) that featured 15 nationally-ranked teams, including the Big Red at the time, Denison finished in a tie for 18th place of out 24 total teams. In their first tournament of the Spring season at the Port City Invitational (Mar. 6-7), the Big Red finished in ninth place out of 16 teams.

The Denison women's golf team captured its second straight NCAC under the direction of Coach Grogan in 2022. As a team, the Big Red took a 35-stroke lead after round one and completed the three-day, 54-hole conference championship with a 79-stroke win over the rest of the field at the Westbrook Country Club. Senior Sophia Alexander took home the medalist honors and was also named the NCAC Player of the Year in the post championship awards ceremony. Junior Laine Hursh finished in second place while freshman Ella McRoberts was named the NCAC Newcomer of the Year after finishing in third place. Sophomore Kate Griffin finished in fourth place and joined Alexander, Hursh and McRoberts on the all-conference first-team. Last but certainly not least, junior Julia Shafir finished sixth to headline the second-team all-conference squad and make it all five Big Red players finishing in the top-six. Additionally, Coach Grogan was named the NCAC Coach of the Year, making it a clean sweep of the NCAC awards for the Big Red for the second year in a row. The Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) then announced their 2021-22 awards for Division III women's golf, and Alexander and Hursh were both named as All-Great Lakes Region honorees. The Big Red women's team also complied a pair of victories during the regular season at the Guy & Jeanne Kuhn Memorial Invitational and the Lee & Joe Duncan Rhodes Invitational. The Big Red finished in the top-five in all five of their tournaments during the Fall season, and were in the top-five in eight of their nine tournaments overall during the regular season.

Meanwhile on the men's side in 2022, Denison moved up two spots after the final round at the NCAC Championship to finish as the conference runner-up behind only Kenyon . Denison's leader throughout the tournament was senior Ben Sherman, who finished in a four-player tie for fifth place at 12-over-par and was named first-team all-conference. Freshman Andrew Gallagher finished alone in ninth place at 13-over-par and was named second-team all-conference. Earning honorable mention all-conference honors for Denison was sophomore Davis Johnson in a tie for 11th, freshman Mac McGurn in a tie for 13th, and senior Marc Mitchell in 15th. Mitchell was then recognized as an NCAA Division III PING All-Region honoree by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) for the third time in his career. Denison earned five top-five team finishes during the regular season, including team championships at the Denison Fall Invitational and then in their final tournament of the regular season at the NCAC/OAC Clash.

In 2021, Grogan led both the Denison men and women's golf programs to their first NCAC Championships in program history, followed by subsequent trips to the NCAA Division III National Championship. She coached the NCAC Women's Player of the Year in Megan Wong and the NCAC Women's Championship medalist winner in Laine Hursh. She also coached both the NCAC Men's and Women's Newcomers of the year, coached four male golfers to All-American honors, and helped guide two women's golfers to All-Region accolades. 

Under the direction of Coach Grogan, the Denison men’s golf team went on to finish in seventh place at the 2021 NCAA Division III Championship, which was the best finish at nationals in program history. Coach Grogan was named the 2021 NCAC Coach of the Year and the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year after leading the Big Red to seven tournament victories and five individual tournament victories over the course of the season. The Denison women’s golf team, meanwhile, finished in 13th place during its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Division III Championship in program history. Coach Grogan earned NCAC Coach of the Year honors on the women’s side as well after racking up eight straight wins during the regular season.

In her first season at the helm of the Denison men's and women's golf programs (2019-20), Grogan led both Big Red men's and women's teams to a pair of simultaneous top-25 NCAA Division III national rankings for the first time in Denison history. The Spring portion of her first season at Denison was then canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Denison women's golf team won three of the five tournaments they competed in during the 2019 Fall season. Emmy Timberlake took home medalist honors twice while Megan Wong set a new varsity record with a 3-under-par score of 69 in the final round of the Ohio Wesleyan Fall Invitational. The Big Red men's golf team won the Centre Fall Invitational and were the runner-up at the Virtues Fall Shootout, highlighting a fall season that saw them post a 293.6 18-hole team scoring average. Christian Early posted a 72.3 scoring average in 11 rounds. He was followed closely by Marc Mitchell at 72.6 and Ben Scherman at 74.3.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Grogan was a four-year letter winner at the University of Michigan, where she competed in four Big Ten Championships and one NCAA Regional. Grogan was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree who posted a career average of 77.46 with six top-20 finishes and three top-10 finishes in her career. She was the recipient of the Big Ten Sportswoman Award in 2013 and 2015.

In two seasons leading the Aquinas College golf program, Grogan made great strides on many fronts. From 2018 to 2019, the women’s team improved its team score by nearly 20 strokes while logging one tournament win and four individual medalist honors. The men moved from seventh to fourth in the regular-season conference standings. Over the past two seasons, Grogan added 20 new student-athletes to the Aquinas rosters while fostering community service opportunities through the First Tee of West Michigan. She was a four-time recipient of the WHAC Conference Champions of Character Coach of the Year award.

Prior to Aquinas, Grogan spent two seasons as the graduate assistant women’s golf coach at Central Michigan University. She earned her master’s in sport administration in 2017.

Grogan has continued to play professionally since graduating from Michigan. She advanced through Stage I of qualifying school in August of 2016 and obtained partial status on the Symetra Tour for the 2016-17 seasons. Grogan was the low amateur in the Women’s US Open qualifier and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in 2014. A regular competitor at the Michigan PGA Women’s Open, Grogan placed eighth in 2016, 12th in 2015, tied 26th in 2024, tied 29th in 2025 and tied 45th in 2021. 

Grogan played high school golf at nearby Bishop Watterson High School where she was the Central District Player of the Year in 2010. Grogan also serves as an assistant professor in the Health, exercise, and sport studies (HESS) major.