11/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Nov. 15, 2016
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf program received signed national letters of intent from Chris Ebster, J.J. Gresco and Jack Trent during the early signing period, head coach Dwaine Knight announced Tuesday. They will all enroll at UNLV next fall as freshmen.
Ebster is from Modesto, Calif., and is a senior at Joseph Gregori High School. He is a three-time California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State finalist qualifier and two-time Boys Junior Americas Cup team member. This year, he is a five-time winner of Junior Golf Association of Northern California (JGANC) tournaments and was named its Player of the Year.
In addition, Ebster was his high school's freshman basketball team's Most Valuable Player (2014) and in 2015 was its Offensive Player of the Year.
"Chris is another in a long line of Northern California junior players that have become excellent Rebel golfers," Knight said. "Derek Ernst, Eddie Olson and Kurt Kitayama are just a few that have come to UNLV after earning Northern California Junior Player of the Year honors.
"We are very excited about Chris joining our program. He is a very good athlete and a solid student. He have had tremendous success from players from his area and I think he will be another one of them."
Gresco is from Scottsdale, Ariz., and is a senior at Notre Dame Prep. He has won a record six consecutive Arizona Junior Player of the Year Awards and was ranked as the No. 1 high school golfer in the state in each of the last two years. In 2013, he was selected to represent the United States as a member of its victorious four-player team at the Evian Junior Cup in France, and in 2014, he was runner-up at the Phoenix Amateur.
In 2015, Gresco played in the U.S. Junior Amateur and in both 2015 and 2016, he qualified to represent Arizona as a member of its three-player team at the Pacific Coast Amateur. This year, he was runner-up at the Sea Pines Junior Heritage at Harbour Town, he played in the Palmetto Amateur and several other major men's events, and just recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the Arizona Amateur before losing to the eventual champion.
"JJ is also an outstanding athlete who has played several sports," Knight said. "He has been one of the top players in the Phoenix area over the last few years and we feel very fortunate that he is joining our program. We feel he has a terrific chance to chase his dream of getting a college degree and playing at the next level beyond college."
Trent is a local from Las Vegas and attends Palo Verde High School. He is the two-time defending Nevada State High School Champion and if he wins it this year, he would become the first three-time winner. Former Rebel AJ McInerney and UNLV senior Taylor Montgomery both won it twice as well.
Trent, ranked as the No. 21 player in the country in the Golfweek Junior Boys Rankings, has also won the 2016 AJGA Ryan Moore Championship, the 2015 San Diego Junior Amateur Championship and the 2015 Clark County Amateur Championship. He had the low round of 62 in this year's Shriner's Open Pre-Qualifier, he was the runner-up at the 2016 Las Vegas City Amateur. Additionally, he finished 12th at the 2016 PING Invitational and was medalist at the 2016 Tournament of Champions at Rio Secco.
"Jack moved to Las Vegas from Australia to continue his high school education and play junior golf," Knight said. "He has become one of the top juniors and amateurs in Southern Nevada. We feel he has a great future. He reminds me a lot of former Rebel Ed Fryatt, along with Taylor and AJ, who all went on to become great players for us from this region. We are very happy that Jack decided to stay in Las Vegas and become a Rebel."
