Aggie golfers come up short at regionals

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (May 5) - The Cameron men's golf team needed a miraculous finish on Wednesday to earn its fourth straight team victory and a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championships next week in Orlando, Fla. Unfortunately, Coach Jerry Hrnciar's Aggies couldn't pull off the heroics.

Cameron carded a 298 team score in the final round to finish sixth in the eight-team South Central Regional Wednesday at Springfield's Millwood Country Club. The Aggies had shown signs of life by besting the field by 11 strokes in Tuesday's second round of play, but finished the tournament 31 strokes back of conference rival Northeastern State. The Redmen shot a team score of 279 (-1) Wednesday, running away from the field to earn the region's automatic bid to nationals with a three-day total of 869 (+29). St. Edward's University was second with a combined team total of 886. Cameron, which fell behind early in the tournament with an opening-round 314 on Monday, finished with a total of 900.

Freshman Owen Mahaffey and sophomore Travis Lovins led the way for Cameron on Wednesday, each finishing just out of the individual Top 10 with identical three-round totals of 222 (+12). Mahaffey birdied two of the first three holes in the final round and carded a two-over 72. Lovins also birdied two of the first three and added another birdie at No. 17, finishing with a 71.

But the rest of the Aggie squad struggled on the difficult Millwood layout. Ryan King, who fired the low round of the day (69) on Tuesday to bounce back from an opening-round 79, posted just one birdie on Wednesday en route to an 80. Collin Garrett bogeyed four of his first seven holes and recorded just six pars on the day to finish with a 77, while Brad Aycock toured the back nine at six-over to finish with a 78.

Abilene Christian's Pierre Goethals won the individual regional title with a three-round total of 211 (+1). Goethals shot a final-round 72 to win medalist honors by one stroke over West Texas A&M's Josh Luongo. Brandon Risenhoover was one of three Northeastern players among the individual Top 10, finishing third with a total of 215.

2004 NCAA II South Central Regional Championship
Millwood Country Club (Springfield, Mo.)     Par 70 - 6494 yards
current position	team	scoring			rounds			total score
		to par	thru	today	1	2	3
1	Northeastern State	+29	F	-1	290	300	279	869
2	St. Edward's (Texas)	+46	F	+14	293	299	294	886
T3	Central Oklahoma	+52	F	+10	303	299	290	892
T3	West Texas A&M	+52	F	+19	288	305	299	892
5	Abilene Christian	+59	F	+22	296	301	302	899
6	Cameron University	+60	F	+18	314	288	298	900
7	St. Mary's (Texas)	+66	F	+7	310	309	287	906
8	Southwestern Okla.	+84	F	+21	324	299	301	924

Individual Results
position		player	team	scoring			rounds			total score
current	start			to par	thru	today	1	2	3
1	1	Pierre Goethals	Abilene Christian	+1	F	+2	69	70	72	211
2	2	Josh Luongo	West Texas A&M	+2	F	+2	68	72	72	212
3	5	Brad Risenhoover	Northeastern State	+5	F	E	72	73	70	215
4	7	Luke Antonelli	St. Mary's (Texas)	+8	F	+1	74	73	71	218
5	T20	Eric Moore	Northeastern State	+9	F	-3	74	78	67	219
T6	6	Carlos Alvarez	Abilene Christian	+11	F	+5	72	74	75	221
T6	T8	Andrew Bishop *	East Central	+11	F	+3	76	72	73	221
T6	T14	Osvaldo Machado *	Incarnate Word	+11	F	E	75	76	70	221
T6	4	Blake Slaughter	St. Edward's (Texas)	+11	F	+7	71	73	77	221
T6	3	Brian Ward	Northeastern State	+11	F	+8	72	71	78	221
T11	T14	Tyler Duncan	St. Edward's (Texas)	+12	F	+1	73	78	71	222
T11	T14	Travis Lovins	Cameron University	+12	F	+1	78	73	71	222
T11	T10	Owen Mahaffey	Cameron University	+12	F	+2	77	73	72	222
T22	T8	Ryan King	Cameron University	+18	F	+10	79	69	80	228
T29	T24	Collin Garrett	Cameron University	+20	F	+7	80	73	77	230
T39	T38	Brad Aycock	Cameron University	+29	F	+8	85	76	78	239