RAMS TAKE 8th AT NAIA NATIONALS
May 19, 2006

OLATHE, KS:  This week, the Texas Wesleyan University Rams made their 45th appearance in 52 years of membership in the NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship.  In their previous 44 appearances, the team had finished outside of the top-ten only twice.  In today’s final round the Rams entered competition in 8th position, and after shooting 300 on the day they finished in the same position with a 72-hole total of 1,195.

Texas Wesleyan had to rally in yesterday’s third round just to make the cut, much less get into the top ten.  After two rounds, the Rams found themselves in 15th place facing yesterday’s cut.  A very strong third round of 288 vaulted Texas Wesleyan from 15th to 8th, and they were able to hold that position in Friday’s final round.

“We felt like we had a good chance coming into this tournament, and we were a little disappointed to not repeat the top-five finishes of the last two years,” said head coach Kevin Millikan.  Millikan went on to say, “It does say something about the strength of our program that we were off our game and still finished eighth in the country.”

The Rams, who had a different leader in all four rounds, were led by Ryan Stephens’ one over par 73.  Lance Vasquez, who finished tied for 16th overall, and Mitch Hendon each shot 75.  Reino Deetlefs shot 77 and Justin Smith 78 to round out the Rams final round scores.

Vasquez was named Honorable Mention All-American in addition to being selected to the All-Tournament team, while both Smith and Deetlefs were named All-American Scholar Athletes.  Deetlefs was also one of 28 recipients of the NAIA’s Champions of Character Award, which recognizes athletes who exemplify qualities of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership, and sportsmanship.

The Rams faced very strong competition all season long.  The strength of Region VI Men’s Golf was recognized when five teams were selected for the National Tournament.  The teams then proved their worth as four of the top eight teams in the tournament hail from Region VI.

Third ranked and Region VI Champion Oklahoma City shot one-under par on the day to hold its top position.  While Texas Wesleyan’s golf program is extremely rich in history, Oklahoma City has dominated recent years.  The Championship was the fifth in the last six seasons for OCU, putting the stars just one shy of the NAIA record.  That record of six titles is held by Texas Wesleyan University and Huntington College. 

The Stars held the tournament lead from wire to wire and finished at two over par (1,154), taking the title by 16 strokes.  Johnson & Wales (FL) shot one under on the final day to move into second place, passing Oklahoma Christian who faltered with a four over par performance.  Johnson & Wales finished at 1,170 while the Eagles finished at 1,171.

Point Loma Nazerene’s Joe Prince shot three over par 75 on the final day, but held off University of Victoria’s Todd Halpen to win the O.D. Bounds Medalist Award, named for the legendary former Texas Wesleyan head coach.  O.D. Bounds was the first coach to ever be inducted into the NAIA Golf Hall of Fame and was the first person inducted into the Texas Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame.  Prince was four under par (284) for the tournament while Halpen finished at three under par (285).

Texas Wesleyan University

Fin. Player           Scores          Total

T16  Lance Vasquez    73  78  69  75  295   

T31  Mitch Hendon     75  78  72  75  300

T31  Ryan Stephens    77  75  75  73  300

T63  Reino Deetlefs   77  74  78  77  306

T75  Justin Smith     81  80  72  78  311

8    Texas Wesleyan   302 305 288 300 1195

Top-10 Teams             Scores          Total

1  Oklahoma City         289 293 285 287 1154

2  Johnson & Wales (FL)  305 288 290 287 1170

3  Oklahoma Christian    291 300 288 292 1171

4  St. Ambrose           298 295 294 297 1184

5  Point Loma Nazarene   291 309 292 295 1187

6  Wayland Baptist       299 307 294 288 1188

7  The Master’s          302 296 295 300 1193

8  Texas Wesleyan        302 305 288 300 1195

9  Malone                293 313 288 307 1201

10 British Columbia      292 311 294 305 1202

Top-20 Individuals (School)  Scores          Total

1   Joe Prince (Point Loma)  69  70  70  75  284

2   Todd Halpen (Victoria)   66  76  70  73  285

3   Colin Nel (OK City)      73  72  71  71  287

T4  J.J. Brumley (Wayland)   74  75  72  67  288

T4  Drew Chuipek (St Ambrose)74  72  69  73  288

T4  Rhein Gibson (OK Christ) 72  71  72  73  288

T7  James Renner (J&W)       76  72  70  71  289

T7  Brad Valois (J&W)        77  69  71  72  289

T9  Seth Cotter (Master’s)   73  73  74  70  290

T9  Daniel Mitchell (OK City)73  71  71  75  290

T11 Sam Cyr (Point Loma)     72  74  74  72  292

T11 Anthony Michael (OK City)72  75  73  72  292

13  Brent Akins (OK City)    78  75  70  70  293

T14 Frenando Gonzalez (OK Ch)73  77  72  72  294

T14 Bruno Buccolo (OK Christ)74  74  71  75  294

T16 Lance Vasquez (TWU)      73  78  69  75  295

T16 Kevin Stinson (Wayland)  75  77  72  71  295

T16 Garrard Weston (OK City) 71  76  74  74  295

T19 Scotty Jones (Malone)    73  78  70  75  296

T19 Austin Lundquist (Master)73  74  72  77  296