Friday, April 5, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - Western Washington is ranked second in the first NCAA Division II West Regional golf ranking of the 2013 season.

The poll will eventually help determine which 10 West Region teams join 10 teams from the South Central region in next month's NCAA Super Regional.

The GNAC along with Saint Martin's University and Western Washington University will host the event at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash.  The event is supported by the Tacoma South Sound Sports Commission and the Washington State Golf Association.

The tournament will qualify five teams to the NCAA Division II Championships in Hershey, Penn.

Western Washington will compete this coming Monday and Tuesday in the Saint Martin's Preview Invitational at The Home Course.  Also competing from the GNAC will be Simon Fraser and the host Saints.  Meanwhile Northwest Nazarene will compete in the College of Idaho Invitational.

WWU has won two tournaments this year.  The Vikings won their own invitational last Sept. 24-25 at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club.  The Vikings also won the Cal Baptist Intercollegiate last week at Beaumont, Calif.  

Mark Strickland led the Vikings in the latter event with a four-under par total of 212 on rounds of 70, 71 and 71 to earn the GNAC Red Lion Golfer of the Week award. Strickland also won the award twice during the fall season.

Strickland currently ranks third in the conference in scoring averaging 74.0 strokes per round.

He trails two of his teammates.  Jake Webb is the conference leader with a 73.0 average and Evan Needham ranks third with a 73.9 average.  Gage Huft of Montana State ranks fourth with a 74.3 average. 

WWU's Dylan Goodwin, last year's scoring champion, is fifth with a 74.7 average.

REGIONAL RANKINGS: West - 1. Cal State Monterey Bay; 2. Western Washington; 3. Cal State Stanislaus; 4. Hawaii Hilo; 5. Grand Canyon; 6. Chico State; 7. UC San Diego; 8. Sonoma State; 9. Cal State East Bay; 10. Dixie State.  

GNAC SEASON SCORING LEADERS (min. 10 rounds): 1. Jake Webb, WWU, 21-73.0; 2. Evan Needham, WWU, 15-73.9; 3. Mark Strickland, WWU, 21-74.0; 4. Gage Huft, MSUB, 18-74.3; 5. Dylan Goodwin, WWU, 21-74.7; 6. Connor Miele, SMU, 15-74.80;  7. Sandy Vaughan, WWU, 11-74.82; 8. Eric Gravbrot, MSUB, 18-74.83; 9. Brandon Moore, SMU, 21-75.0; 10. Brad Harrelson, MSUB, 18-75.2.

LAST WEEK

Cal Baptist Intercollegiate (Mar. 25-26 at Tukwet Canyon Champions Course, Beaumont, CA): Team Scores – 1. Western Washington 862 (286-291-285); 2. Chico State 866 (285-288-293); 3. Cal State Monterey Bay 883 (295-297-291); 4. Northwest Nazarene 898 (304-298-296); 5. Point Loma Nazarene 901 (300-298-303).  Individuals (Par 72, 6,993 Yards) – 1. Will Flitcroft, Chico State, 211 (66-74-71); 2. Mark Strickland, WWU, 212 (70-71-71); 3. Dylan Goodwin, WWU, 213 (71-71-71); 7. Nick Hardy, NNU, 219 (75-70-74); 9. Evan Needham, WWU, 220 (75-75-70); 14. Kyle Schrader, WWU, 222 (74-75-73); 19. Jake Webb, WWU, 223 (71-74-78); 22. Michael Delie, NNU, 226 (77-78-71); 26. Justin McAfee, NNU, 229 (75-74-80); 33. Brock Sargent, NNU, 234 (77-86-71); 52. Connor Magnuson, NNU, 246 (83-76-87).

Grand Canyon Thunderbird (Mar. 25-26 at Wigwam Gold, Litchfield Park, AZ): Team Scores – 1. Grand Canyon 866 (292-286-288); 2. UC San Diego 888 (289-297-302); 3. Central Oklahoma 889 (293-298-298); 4. Dixie State 890 (290-301-299); 5. BYU-Hawaii 900 (311-293-296); 7. Saint Martin’s 907 (304-298-305); 9. Simon Fraser 916 (310-302-304); 13. MSU Billings 938 (317-307-314).  Individuals (Par 72, 7228 Yards) – 1. Jimmy Kozikowski, GCU, 209 (69-69-71); 13. Eric Gravbrot, MSUB, 224 (75-75-74); 17. Jack Whealdon, SMU, 225 (78-75-72), and Michael Belle, SFU, 225 (75-76-74); 22. Brandon Moore, SMU, 226 (75-76-75) and John Mlikotic, SFU, 226 (77-74-75); 29. Bret Thompson, SFU, 227 (77-74-76); 45. Ben Fosnick, SMU, 231 (80-73-78); 46. Patrick Whealdon, SMU, 232 (77-74-81); 53. Michael Jaeger, SMU, 235 (74-81-80); 59. Brad Harrelson, MSUB, 238 (82-75-81); 60. Trevor Garofano, SFU, 239 (81-78-80), Jordan Melanson, SFU, 239 (82-78-79) and Marcus Drange, MSUB, 239 (78-76-85); 68. Gage Huft, MSUB, 243 (82-81-80); 78. Houston Bradbury, MSUB,  251 (87-85-79).