FERRIS STATE TO PARTICIPATE IN 2002 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Ferris State University men’s golf team has been selected to participate in the 40th annual NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships, which will be held May 21-24 at the Mission Inn Golf Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.

Ferris State was one of 18 teams and the lone team representative from the Great Lakes Region to be selected while Grand Valley State’s Eric Cowles was chosen as the only individual from the region. Defending 2001 national champion University of West Florida received an at-large berth to the national tournament. The winner of each region from the Super Regionals received an automatic berth to the finals as did eight at-large selections. The top individual from each region not on an advancing team also was selected to compete along with two at-large individuals.

The championships, which are being hosted by Rollins College and the Central Florida Sports Commission, will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. All 102 participants will compete throughout the entire 72 holes of competition.

With the invitation, Ferris State will be competing in the NCAA-II Championships for the 10th time ever in the program’s history and has now made six appearances in the last seven seasons. In their most recent national tourney appearance two years ago (4/16-19/00), the Bulldogs tied for eighth place of 18 teams with a 72-hole, school-record national tourney 1,184-stroke (292-289-292-311–1,184) score at the 2000 NCAA-II Championships in Turlock, Calif. Prior to a season ago, FSU made five straight national tourney appearances (1996-00) and its highest placing was a pair of eighth-place showings at both the 1998 and 1999 national tournament. Ferris’ other national tourney appearances were in 1982 (11th place), 1986 (ninth), 1992 (14th) and 1994 (12th).

The Bulldogs played previously at Howey-in-the-Hills in 1998 (5/19-22) and placed eighth in the 18-team field as a result of carding a four-round 1,198 score (294-308-299-297–1,198).

Senior and current team member Christoph Spora (Bell/See, Austria/Hib Saalfelden), a 2000-01 Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) NCAA-II PING All-America Second-Team pick, represented Ferris at the 2001 NCAA-II Championships and finished ninth overall individually with a four-round 294-stroke total.

FSU, which is currently 22nd in the latest (4/18) Precept NCAA-II Coaches Poll rankings as administered by the GCAA, placed second of eight teams with a single-round 287 score at the rain-shortened NCAA-II Great Lakes Super Regional (5/6-8) in Union, Ky. The Bulldogs claimed their 17th Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship title earlier this season (10/5-6) with a first-place performance (913 score) at the 54-hole 2001 GLIAC Championships in Ashland, Ohio.