Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Wednesday, May 07, 2008
WSU improves on second day of regional
FINDLAY, Ohio — The Winona State University men’s golf team made a dramatic improvement Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA Division II Central Region tournament, but it may have come too late.
WSU shot a 297 — 23 strokes better than its first-round score Monday — at Red Hawk Run Golf Course and moved into seventh place out of eight teams.
The top team from each region will advance to the national finals in Houston, along with a “wild card” — the team with the best score that didn’t win its region.
The Warriors trail tournament-leading Washburn (Kan.) by 32 strokes and are 27 strokes off the third-best score entering today’s final round of the three-day tournament.
“When you get down a couple of strokes and try to get back on a course that doesn’t allow any breaks, it’s really tough to rebound,” WSU coach Robert Newberry said. “You can’t win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it, and that’s what we did.”
WSU’s Brady Strangstal-ien, who shot 82 Monday, moved from 33rd place to a tie for 15th overall after posting a 2-under-par 70 on Tuesday.
Strangstalien, the two-time Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference individual champion, stands 11 strokes behind the tournament leader with an 8-over-par 152.
Keegan Drugan shot a 74, Ross Wilhelm shot a 79, and Kevin Loeffler posted a 74 to lead the Warriors. All three moved into a tie for 20th place with a two-day total of 155.
Women’s golf
Division II North Regional
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Megan Placko, a junior on the Winona State University women’s golf team, shot a 78 in the second round of the NCAA Division II North Region tournament and is tied for 21st place.
Placko, who shot an 83 on the first day of the three-round tournament at King’s Walk Golf Course, is 15 strokes behind the leader.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 Winona Daily News and other attributed sources.