Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Western Washington had three players tie for fourth place at 1-under par 215 in finishing second to host Cal State Stanislaus, which had a record-setting performance at its 39th annual Jim Hanny Invitational Men's Golf Tournament at the Turlock Golf and Country Club.

The seventh-ranked Vikings, shot a final-round 1-over par 289 Tuesday for a 54-hole total of 868. No.4-rated Cal State Stanislaus, which captured its sixth tourney title of the season, won by 23 strokes at 19-under 845, breaking its own tourney record by 16 shots. The Warriors fired a final-round 11-under 277.

It was the 25th victory by Cal State Stanislaus at its own tourney, and 14th for the Warriors in the last 17 years.

“Cal State Stanislaus is a quality team and on its home course is very tough to beat,” said WWU coach Steve Card, whose team was was six shots behind the Warriors after the first round and 11 after the second.

“Overall I'm pleased with our performance as we beat some good teams, and I'm encouraged by our continued improvement.”

The trio of Vikings in a seven-way tie for fourth were Dylan Goodwin. Craig Crawford and Nick Varelia. Goodwin and Crawford had 73 in the final round, while Varelia shot a3-under 69 to move up 10 places.

Trevor Blair from Cal State Stanislaus took medalist honors at 7-under 209, winning by four strokes after shooting a 6-under 66. Tying for second at 213 were Hawaii-Hilo's James Hall and Chico State's Kyle Souza.

Crawford's finish was his best in five events with the Vikings this season and only his second Top 10 finish. He was seventh two weeks ago at Grand Canyon.

Saint Martin's, Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene placed seventh, 16th and 20th, respectively. SMU's Brandon Moore was 21st with a 54-hole total of 221.

Hanny Stanislaus Invitational (Apr. 16-17 at Turlock Golf & CC, Turlock, CA): Team Scores - 1. CSU Stanislaus 845 (282-286-277); 2. Western Washington 868 (288-291-289); 3. Chico State 872 (289-296-287; 4. Point Loma Nazarene 884 (301-290-293); 5. CSU East Bay 886 (295-292-299) and CSU Monterey Bay 886 (296-298-292); 7. Saint Martin's 887 (301-292-294); 16. Montana State Billings 918 (305-303-310); 20. Northwest Nazarene 937 (321-309-307). Individuals (Par 72, 6,641 Yards) - 1. Trevor Blair, CSUS, 209 (70-73-66); 4. Dylan Goodwin, WWU, 215 (70-72-73), Nick Varelia, WWU, 215 (72-74-69) and Craig Crawford, WWU, 215 (71-71-73); 21. Brandon Moore, SMU, 221 (75-76-70); 26. Ben Fosnick, SMU, 222 (76-72-74) and Michael Jaeger, SMU, 222 (74-72-76); 38. Sandy Vaughan, WWU, 224 (76-74-74); 48. Marcus Drange, MSUB, 227 (75-77-75); 52. Jake Webb, WWU, 228 (75-79-74) and Gage Huft, MSUB, 228 (77-76-75); 68. Preston Richards, MSUB, 231 (75-77-79); 70. Patrick Whealdon, SMU, 232 (76-82-74); 77. Eric Gravbrot, MSUB, 234 (78-75-81); 80. Zach Grunig, NNU, 235 (81-79-75) and Matt Sturgill, NNU, 235 (82-74-79); 82. Nick Hardy, NNU, 236 (81-77-78) and Brock Sargeent, NNU, 236 (77-80-79); 85. Thomas Hanacek, NNU, 237 (83-79-75); 91. Brad Harrelson, MSUB, 238 (78-75-85); 95. Jack Whealdon, SMU, 239 (78-72-89); 103. Chase Richards, MSUB, 249 (81-82-87).