The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

Division II

Several teams have legitimate shot

Event: 1997 Division II Men's Golf Championships.

Overview: The field appears wide open for an event that has been dominated recently by three teams. Either Florida Southern, Columbus or Abilene Christian has won the last eight team championships and all will challenge again this year -- particularly two-time defending champion Florida Southern, which returns Patrick Kinley, Andy McLendon and Travis Perkins from last year's squad. Kinley is coming off a victory in the Southeastern Collegiate at Valdosta State. Columbus, national champions five times (most recently in 1993), took the team title in that event by placing three of the top six golfers, including runner-up John Drewery. The Cougars also feature Jaco Rall and Wilfredo Morales in their top five .... North Florida, runner-up in the Southeastern, also figures to contend for national honors behind junior Felipe Aguilar, who has four top-10 finishes in his last five tournaments, and Garrett Morrison, a top-three finisher twice this spring. The Ospreys have won three tournaments overall and have finished second in two others .... South Carolina-Aiken's Jamie Stanley and Ryan Dillon have combined to win three events this year. The Pacers were ranked as high as second in the coaches' poll until a 14th place finish at the Southeastern .... Central Oklahoma could contend if defending medalist Dax Johnston recovers from a shoulder injury that has kept him out of three tournaments this spring. In the five events Johnston has played this year, he's won twice and finished second three times with a combined score of 23 under par. The Bronchos also feature three-time all-American Dustin York, who sports a 72.8 stroke average .... Other contenders include Cal State Stanislaus, Cameron, Texas A&M-Commerce and Valdosta State.

Field: A total of 225 golfers representing nine districts will participate in three regionals to determine the championships field of 93 competitors.

Dates and sites: Three regional tournaments will be conducted May 5-7. Host institutions are Elon (South), Southern Indiana (North) and Central Missouri State (West). The championships finals will be May 20-23 at Legend Trail Golf Course in Scottsdale, Arizona, hosted by Grand Canyon.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3066 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 5096 for first-round results, 5097 for second-round results, 5098 for third-round results and 5099 for final-round results. Individual and team results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Regional results will appear in the May 19 issue of The NCAA News. Championships results will appear in the June 2 issue of The NCAA News.