The three-day NCAA Regional Championships concluded at six sites throughout the country on Saturday. The low five teams and lowest scoring individual not on those teams move on to the NCAA National Championships, which will be held at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., May 31-June 5.
•Southwest Regional
Eighth-ranked and No. 2-seed San Diego State became the second men's team in Mountain West history (UNLV, 2005) to capture a regional title, posting a seven-stroke win over No. 1 seed and No. 7-ranked Texas A&M at the par 71, 7,199-yard OMNI Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz.
The 2011 Mountain West champion Aztecs, who never trailed after Thursday's opening round, advanced to the national championships for the fifth time since 1999. After shooting a 7-under 277 on Saturday, SDSU concluded the 54-hole tournament with a 19-under 833.
Junior Alex Kang, who finished with a 1-under 70 on Saturday, posted SDSU's top individual performance, finishing tied for fourth place with a 5-under 208.
Aztec freshman Todd Baek tied for seventh with a 4-under 209, while senior Johan Carlsson carded a 3-under 210 and finished tied for 11th.
Competing as an individual, BYU sophomore Zac Blair tied for 25th place after posting a 54-hole total of 1-over 214.
In addition to SDSU, Texas A&M (12-under 840) and Cal (9-under 843) other teams qualifying for the NCAA Championships from the Southwest Regional include Pepperdine and host Arizona, which both posted an 8-under 844 to tie for fourth place. Medalist honors went to Matt Hansen of UC Davis, who finished at 9-under 204. Hansen qualified for the NCAA Championships as the low individual who was not a member of one of the top five teams.
•South Central Regional
No. 11 seed and 65th-ranked Colorado State started the final round tied for sixth place but shot a 9-under 279 on Saturday to qualify for the program's second-ever national championship at the par 72, 7,758-yard Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo.
The Rams, who finished with a 54-hole total of 13-under 851, were paced by junior Kory Harrell, senior Ryan Peterson and freshman Mike Sorensen, all of whom finished tied for 16th with a 1-under 215. CSU junior Zahkai Brown, who led the tournament after the opening round, shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday to finish tied for 24th at even par.
The MW narrowly missed qualifying a second team from the South Central Regional when TCU (6-under, 858) finished a stroke behind Georgia and Arizona State, which finished tied for fourth.
Senior Tom Hoge posted TCU's best individual performance of the tournament, shooting a 3-under 69 on Saturday to finish with a 54-hole total of 1-under 215. TCU sophomore Daniel Jennevert, who matched Hoge's 3-under on Saturday, ended the tournament tied for 24th at even par.
Wyoming senior Gabe Meier, who competed individually, was one of six players to finished tied with Jennevert for 24th place.
No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State stormed to the team title, finishing with a 31-under-par 833. Northwestern (9-under 855) finished in third place. Medalist honors went to Oklahoma State's Kevin Tway, who posted a 10-under 206. Cal Poly's Geoff Gonzalez (6-under 210) qualified for the NCAA Championships as the low individual who was not a member of one of the top five teams.
•West Regional
No. 6 seed UNLV, which entered regional play ranked 36th nationally, tied an NCAA record with its 23rd consecutive regional appearance. The Rebels finished the West Regional in 12th place, carding a 33-over-par 897 at the par 72, 6,903-yard The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
Blake Biddle, who earlier this month was named the MW Freshman of the Year, turned in UNLV's top individual performance of the tournament, tying for eighth with a 1-under 215. Meanwhile, teammate Derek Ernst, the 2011 MW Player of the Year, shot 7-over 79 on Saturday after starting the day tied for fifth place. Ernst finished with a 54-hole total of 5-over 221, tied for 34th place.
New Mexico's Travis Ross, who had received an at-large berth as an individual, posted a 54-hole tole of 12-over 228 to tie for 54th overall.
Second-ranked UCLA captured the team title with a 10-under-par 854. USC (7-under, 857) was second, followed by San Diego (even-par, 864), Ohio State (1-over, 865) and Texas (9-over, 873). Medalist honors went to UCLA's Patrick Cantley, who posted a 54-hole total of 13-under 203. Middle Tennessee State's Jason Millard (5-under, 211) qualified for the NCAA Championships as the low individual who was not a member of one of the top five teams.
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Mick McGrane has covered the Mountain West since the league's inception in 1999. He spent 12 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he served as the beat writer for San Diego State football and men's basketball. He currently represents the MW as a member of the Football Writers Association of America All-America Committee and is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. McGrane serves as senior writer to the Mountain West, providing readers with exclusive, in-depth information about the Conference by highlighting its 10 member institutions and contributing feature stories on student-athletes that participate in the league's 18 sponsored sports.
Mark Knudson is a Colorado State journalism school graduate and a 12-year veteran of professional baseball. During his playing career, Mark pitched for three major league teams, including the Colorado Rockies, where he was the first Colorado native to play for the hometown team. He recorded wins over three of the four legendary pitchers who make up the 4,000 strikeout club: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. His win over Ryan came for the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day in 1991.
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