Friday, April 26, 2013

DUPONT, Wash. -  Western Washington  earned the No. 2 seed in the West Region and will compete in the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf South Central/West Regional beginning Monday, May 6 at The Home Course.

Western Washington, Saint Martin’s and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference are the co-hosts for the three-day regional.

The 54-hole event is also being supported by the Tacoma South Sound Sports Commission and the Washington State Golf Association.

A total of 108 student-athletes from the West and South Central regions will compete for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships May 20-24 at the Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Penn. Each region qualified 10 teams and four additional golfers.

In addition to Western Washington, GNAC qualifiers included individual players from Montana State Billings and Saint Martin’s.

Representing the Yellowjackets will be Gage Huft (So., Kimberly, ID).  Huft won the Saint Martin’s Invitational April 8-9 at The Home Course finishing with a score of nine-under par 207.  Huft had rounds of 69, 72 and 66 on the par-72, 7,162-yard layout.

Huft currently ranks third in the GNAC in scoring averaging  74.2 strokes per round.

Brandon Moore (Sr., Tacoma, WA – Washington) and Ben Fosnick (So., Lakewood, WA – Lakes) will represent Saint Martin’s.  Moore ranks ninth in the GNAC in scoring and Fosnick ranks 10th. Both players are averaging 75.3 strokes per round.

Leading Western Washington into the regional will be Jake Webb (Sr., Issaquah, WA – Skyline) and Mark Strickland (So., Mukilteo, WA).  Webb, the GNAC Golfer of the Year, leads the conference in scoring averaging 73.5.  Strickland ranks second with a 73.6 average.

Other Viking golfers ranked in the Top 10 include Dylan Goodwin (Sr., Mukilteo, WA – Kamiak) and Evan Needham (Sr., Lynden, WA – Meridian).  They are both averaging 74.5 and rank fourth and fifth, respectively.

Five teams from the 20-team regional and the top two individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the national championships. 

Cal State Monterey Bay, which earned an automatic berth by winning the California Collegiate Athletic Association title, is the top seed from the West Region.  Grand Canyon, the PacWest Conference automatic qualifier, is seeded third in the West.

Colorado Mines is the No. 1 seed from the South Central Region.  Automatic qualifiers included second-seed Midwestern State from the Lone Star Conference, fifth-seed Colorado – Colorado Springs from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and seventh-seed Dallas Baptist from the Heartland Conference.

NCAA Division II West/South Central Qualifiers

West – 1. Cal State Monterey Bay; 2. Western Washington; 3. Grand Canyon; 4. Cal State Stanislaus; 5. Hawaii Hilo; 6. Sonoma State; 7. Chico State; 8. UC San Diego; 9. Cal State East Bay; 10. Dixie State.  Individual Qualifiers – 1. Shearn Chua, CSU San Bernardino; 2. Gage Huft, MSU Billings; 3. Ben Fosnick, Saint Martin’s; 4. Brandon Moore, Saint Martin’s.

South Central – 1. Colorado School of Mines; 2. Midwestern State; 3. Abilene Christian; 4. Cameron; 5. Colorado – Colorado Springs; 6. St. Edward’s; 7. Dallas Baptist; 8. Colorado State Pueblo; 9. Incarnate Word; 10. Western New Mexico.  Individual Qualifiers – 1. Myles Miller, Newman; 2. Brandon Bingaman, Colorado Mesa; 3. Logan Leggett, West Texas A&M; 4. C.J. Clem, Texas A&M – Commerce.