Friday, April 28, 2017

STOCKTON, Calif. – For the 19th consecutive year, Western Washington has been selected to compete in the NCAA Division II West/South Central Super Regional, which will be held this year in Stockton, California. The Vikings will be the No. 6 seed from the West Region. Simon Fraser’s junior Chris Crisologo also qualified for the event individually after winning four tournaments this year.

The tournament will be held on May 8-10 at the Brookside Golf Course in Stockton. The tournament features 20 teams and eight individuals with 10 teams from the West Region and 10 teams from the South Central Region. Saint Mary’s is the top seed from the South Central Region and BYU-Hawaii is the top seed from the West Region.

Since joining NCAA Division II competition in 1999, the Vikings have competed in the Super Regional every year. The winners of the GNAC Championships will be looking to advance past the Super Regional for the eighth time.

The Vikings enter the tournament with a streak of five consecutive top-5 finishes, including a dramatic one-stroke victory earlier this week in the GNAC Championships at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. The Vikings also finished fourth at the CBU Men’s Invitational, an event that featured six of the West Region’s 10 teams in the Super Regional.

Western Washington has been led this year by a trio of seniors, who have spearheaded the squad’s success. Chris Hatch ranks second in the GNAC in strokes per round at 72.6 and finished in second place at the GNAC Championships. Brett Johnson had the Vikings’ best result at the Super Regional last year, scoring a 10-over-par 223 to finish in a tie for second 48^th place out of 108 competitors. Jeffrey Marcum adds a team-best six top-10 finishes this year to the WWU lineup. He finished in sixth place at the GNAC Championships, carding a 4-over-par 217.

Crisologo enters the tournament as the GNAC individual champion after shooting a 5-under-par 208. He has now won six tournaments in his career. At the CBU Invitational, he finished in a tie for fourth place individually. The event featured 30 golfers that will be competing in the Super Regional. Last year, Crisologo finished in a tie for 17th place at the Super Regional, which was held in Las Cruces, New Mexico.