Friday, April 26, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS – A trio of GNAC teams and one competing individual have been selected to compete in the 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Golf West/South Central Regional, which will be held May 9-11 in St. George, Utah.

Western Washington will be the No. 2 seed from the West Region, making its 21st appearance in a Super Regional. Simon Fraser enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed, with Concordia rounding at the conference's team representation at No 8. Joining the three in St. George will be Saint Martin's sophomore Tyler Fitchett, one of four individuals from the West Regional invited to the regional.

This marks the first year in conference history where three men's golf teams have advanced to regional action.

The tournament will be held at The Ledges Golf Club and will feature 20 teams. A total of 10 teams and eight individuals comprise each region. Chico State represents the West Region as the No. 1 seed while Oklahoma Christian is the top seed in the South Central.  

Western Washington, fresh off a victory at the 2019 GNAC Championships, enters the event as the conference leader with a 286.7 stroke average. The Vikings are paced by freshman Jordan Lee, who will be making his first Super Regional appearance. The GNAC Player of the Year, Lee leads the league with a 72.1 stroke average and is one of four Vikings to finish within the top-10 at the GNAC Championships. 

The team has also been guided by the play of seniors Nick Sparling and Michael Butler. The duo are tied for second in the GNAC in scoring average at 72.6. Also heating up at the right time is sophomore Brody Bonfilio, who took home medalist honors at the GNAC Championships with a 3-under par total of 210. Western Washington enters the regional ranked No. 4 in both the Bushnell Golfweek Division II Coaches Poll and Golfstat team rankings.

Making its sixth straight appearance at the Super Regional, Simon Fraser will look to build on last year's solid performance when it tied for 14th place. The Clan are coming off a second-place finish at the GNAC Championships and are second in the league with a 294.1 stroke average. The team has been led by freshman Isaac Lee, who has posted a trio of top-five finishes in his first year on campus.

Concordia is led by junior Jaxson Daskalos, who leads the team and ranks seventh in the conference with a 73.4 scoring average. Daskalos earned medalist honors at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational and most recently tied for fourth at the GNAC Championships. Sophomore Riley Killip has also impressed this season, entering the regional with a stroke average of 74.0.

Fresh off an impressive GNAC Championships run in which he tied for fourth place, Fitchett will represent Saint Martin's as an individual. The sophomore shined all season long and ranks ninth in the conference with a 74.0 stroke average. His two top-five performances led the Saints on the 2018-19 campaign, a run highlighted by an individual title at the NDNU Argonaut Invitational in March. 

At a minimum, the top three teams and top two student-athletes not with a team from each regional will advance to the finals on May 20-24 at The Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, West Virginia. The remaining eight team berths will be allocated based on the regions represented in the prior year's head-to-head medal play portion of the championships, with the maximum number of teams from a given region capped at seven.