Friday, April 25, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Earning berths in the 2014 NCAA West Regional Championships, the men’s golf season will continue into May for Simon Fraser and Western Washington.

Earning the No. 5 seed out of the West Region was Simon Fraser, with Western Washington close behind at No. 6 among the 10-team field.

SFU is led by 2013-14 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year Mike Belle and Freshman of the Year Kevin Vigna. The latter earned medalist honors at the GNAC Championships at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course earlier this week, shooting an even-par 213 including a tournament low round score of 67 at the event. 

For WWU, Kyle Schrader and Chris Hatch were each first team all-conference selections and are the top qualifying individuals for the Vikings. WWU has reached the regional tournament every year since becoming eligible for NCAA competition in 1999, a streak of 16-straight seasons reaching the playoffs.

Also qualifying from the GNAC as an individual was Nick Hardy of Northwest Nazarene, who earned first team all-conference honors during his senior campaign.

The West regional will be paired with the South Central, and the competition will take place at the Grey Rock Golf Course in Austin, Texas running May 5-7. This year’s regional tournament will be hosted by St. Edward’s University.

The top-3 teams and top-2 golfers from each regional are guaranteed to advance to the NCAA Championships, running May 19-23 at the Meadows Golf Course in Allendale, Mich. 

A maximum of seven teams from any given regional may reach the NCAA Championships, which will be hosted by Grand Valley State University, as eight remaining team berths will be granted following the automatic qualifiers.