Friday, April 12, 2013
PORTLAND, Ore. - Western Washington maintained its No. 2 ranking in this week's NCAA Division II West Regional men's golf rankings released Friday.
There were no changes in the West Regional Top 10 from last week's inaugural poll. Cal State Monterey held on to the No. 1 spot.
The rankings will eventually help determine which teams advance to the NCAA Division II West/South Central Super Regional which will be held May 6-8 at The Home Course in Dupont, Wash. The GNAC along with Western Washington and Saint Martins will host the event.
The top ranked team in the South Central Regional is Abilene Christian.
Earlier this week Western Washington finished first in the Saint Martin's Preview Invitational at The Home Course. Grand Canyon, which is ranked fifth in the regional poll finished second, while Monterey Bay finished fifth in the tournament.
The win by Western Washington was its third of the season and its second straight. The Vikings, who have also had four third place finishes this season, also won the own invitational on Sept. 24-25 and the Cal Baptist Invitational on Mar. 25-26.
The top finisher at DuPont from the South Central Region was Colorado - Colorado Springs, which placed sixth. UCCS is ranked eighth in the South Central Region. Colorado Mines, which is ranked second in the South Central Region, planced ninth.
The medalist in the tournament was Gage Huft of Montana State Billings. Huft won the 54-hole event with a score of 207.
He had a tournament-best 66 in the final round on the par-72, 7,162 yard layout to finish one shot ahead of runner-up James Hall of Hawaii Hilo. Hall carded a 69 in the final round. Huft also had rounds of 69 and 72.
That earned Huft GNAC Golfer of the Week honors for the third time this season. He also won the award for the Week of Sept. 18-23 when he had a rare double eagle and for the Week of Oct. 15-21.
Huft currently ranks second in the GNAC in scoring averaging 74.3 strokes per round. Jake Webb of Western Washington is the leader with a 72.9 average.
There is one more event on the regular-season schedule prior to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Golf Championships Presented by the Coeur d'Alene Resort on Apr. 22-23.
Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's and Western Washington will all head to Turlock, Calif., this weekend to compete in the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational Monday and Tuesday.
NCAA REGIONAL POLLS (Apr. 12): West - 1. Cal State Monterey Bay; 2. Western Washington; 3. Cal State Stanislaus; 4. Hawaii Hilo; 5. Grand Canyon; 6. Chico State; 7. UC San Diego; 8. Sonoma State; 9. Cal State East Bay; 10. Dixie State. South Central – 1. Abilene Christian, 2. Colorado Mines, 3. Midwestern State, 4. Cameron, 5. St. Edward’s, 6. Colorado State Pueblo and Dallas Baptist, 8. Colorado – Colorado Springs, 9. Incarnate Word, 10, Western New Mexico.
GNAC SEASON SCORING LEADERS (min. 12 rounds): 1. Jake Webb, WWU, 24-72.9; 2. Gage Huft, MSUB, 18-74.3; 3. Mark Strickland, WWU, 24-73.7; 4. Evan Needham, WWU, 18-73.9; 5. Dylan Goodwin, WWU, 24-74.3; 6. Brandon Moore, SMU, 24-74.7; Connor Miele, SMU, 18-74.9; 8. Eric Gravbrot, MSUB, 21-75.0; 9. Brad Harrelson, MSUB, 21-75.2; 10. Michael Belle, SFU, 18-75.2.
THIS WEEK'S TOURNAMENTS
Saint Martin’s Invitational (Apr. 8-9 at The Home Course, DuPont, WA): Team Scores – 1. Western Washington 857 (291-282-284); 2. Grand Canyon 863 (284-285-294); 3. Sonoma State 865 (288-284-293); 4. Hawaii Hilo 866 (289-287-290); 5. Cal State Monterey Bay 869 (292-285-292); 7. Saint Martin’s 872 (*297-288-287); 14. MSU Billings 883 (293-296-294); 15. Simon Fraser 895 (300-307-288). Individuals (Par 72, 7,162 and 7,103 Yards) – 1. Gage Huft, MSUB, 207 (69-72-66); 8. Dylan Goodwin, WWU, 214 (73-71-70) and Mark Strickland, WWU, 214 (76-68-70); 14. Jake Webb, WWU, 216 (73-71-72); 18. Brandon Moore, SMU, 217 (76-73-68); 27. Ben Fosnick, SMU, 219 (74-72-73) and Michael Jaeger, SMU, 219 (78-71-70); 42. Evan Needham, WWU, 222 (72-78-72); 48. Michael Belle, SFU, 223 (71-80-72), *Kevin Cullen, SMU, 223 (72-73-78) and *Patrick Whealdon, SMU, 223 (75-71-77); 52. Bret Thompson, SFU, 224 (81-74-69), Kyle Schrader, WWU, 224 (73-72-79); *Jack Davis, SMU, 224 (73-73-78) and Jack Whealdon, SMU, 224 (74-74-76); 57. Brad Harrelson, MSUB, 225 (74-76-75) and John Mlikotic, SFU, 225 (77-76-72); 61. Marcus Drange, MSUB, 226 (75-72-79); 63. Eric Gravbrot, MSUB, 227 (75-76-76) and Connor Miele, SMU, 227 (73-72-82); 69. Calum Miller, SFU, 229 (76-78-75) and *Jack Kelly, WWU, 229 (77-77-75); 72. *Ryan Pickthorn, SMU, 230 (75-75-80); 75. Lucas Gatto, SFU, 231 (76-79-76); 81. Jake Letman, MSUB, 241 (83-81-77). *Competed as individuals.
College of Idaho (Apr. 8-9 at Riverbend Golf Course, Wilder, ID): Team Scores – 1. Concordia 940 (308-325-307); 2. Corban 956 (319-327-310); 3. Rocky Mountain 964 (329-319-316); 4. Warner Pacific 965 (327-327-311); 5. North Idaho 967 (325-323-319); 6. Northwest Nazarene 973 (327-329-317). Individuals (Par 72, 6,804 Yards) – 1. Andrew Johnson, WPU, 230 (84-73-73); 14. Nick Hardy, NNU, 242 (82-84-76) and Justin McAfee, NNU, 242 (83-83-76); 31. Michael Delie, NNU, 247 (82-79-86); 28. Brock Sargent, NNU, 248 (80-87-81); 36. Connor Magnuson, NNU, 253 (86-83-84); *Davis Halle, NNU, 280 (98-95-87). *Competed as individual.