WICHITA, Kan. – Entering the final round of the NCCAA Central Regional Championship on Tuesday morning, the Mid-America Christian University golf teams were poised to have qualifiers advance to the National Championships to be held in October. The Evangels were only five strokes back for the men's team lead after an overnight scoring correction, and both the men and women had an individual in the hunt for the individual title.
The Evangels played well overall on the day, but a slow start to the round and an agonizingly close missed putt left the Evangels with three individuals who finished in their respective top-fives, but no National qualifiers.
Mid-America shot a team score of 316, but that was not enough to help the Evangels chase down the Southwestern Christian University Eagles, who carded a 305 to win the tournament title. MACU was the low man for the Evangels on Tuesday, firing a 74 to move up into a third place finish in the event with a total of 229, seven shots behind a tie for the title. Gage Gibson was the only other Evangel to break 80, however, shooting a 77 and earning an eighth place finish. Austin Davis shot an 82 and held on to finish tied for fourth at 232, and Jake Reddington (83) and Wyatt Bonds (85) finished in 10th and 29th, respectively.
On the women's side of the ledger, Kirsten Westlake came agonizingly close to qualifying as the region's individual qualifier. Westlake shot an 84 to finish at 170 in fourth place, but she missed a putt on her 36th hole that would have gotten her into a playoff with Jessica Simants of York College (Neb.) for the individual spot. Hannah Price shot a round of 96 to finish in 13th on the women's side individually.
MACU will return to action on October 8-9 at the Dornick Hills Invitational, hosted by Southwestern Christian University. The event will be played at Dornick Hills Country Club in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
