Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Conference USA Championships
Marshall Men's Golf Finishes Seventh at C-USA Championship
4/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 26, 2011
TEXARKANA, Ark. -
Marshall University's Christian Brand closed out his collegiate career in fine fashion Tuesday, leading the Thundering Herd to a seventh place finish at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship at the Texarkana Country Club.
Brand, a senior from Charleston, W.Va., fired a third round 71 (-1) to finish the tournament with an even-par (72,73,71) 216 and tie for 11th place overall.
Brand led a trio of Marshall golfers that finished in the tournament's Top-20. Aaron Boggs (a sophomore from Madison, W.Va.) and Nathan Kerns (a sophomore from Ironton, Ohio) both tied for 19th overall at 219 (+1), helping Marshall to its best finish since joining Conference USA in 2005.
The Thundering Herd's previous best finish at the C-USA Championship was a ninth place finish in 2007.
Bosten Miller (a junior from Charleston, W.Va.) and Brian Anania (a freshman from Hurricane, W.Va.) both finished tied for 40th at 227 to round out the Thundering Herd's scoring.
UCF moved up the leaderboard following each round and the Knights won their third-straight Conference USA Men's Golf Championship with a two-under following 54 holes at the par 72, 6,935-yard Texarkana Country Club.
UCF was in eighth-place following Sunday's opening round, moved into third place on Monday and took nine more strokes off its total to grab the title with a 293-289-280=862.
Memphis junior Jonathan Fly carded a 69 in today's final round and finished seven-under with a 209. The Tigers held onto its position at No. 2 in the team standings with an even 864.
Fly was joined on the all-tournament team by East Carolina junior David Watkins, who fired a 68 for final round low and finish third overall. Four freshman also earned all-tournament honors as UCF's Greg Eason was runner-up with a 69-72-69=210 (-6). Tulsa newcomers John Young Kim and Johannes Veerman scored a 212 and 214 to place fourth and fifth, respectively. Houston freshman Curtis Reed, who tallied a tournament-best four eagles, tied for fifth with Veerman.
Tulsa, who led entering Tuesday's final round, only added three strokes to its total but finished third overall. UAB and Houston both posted their best rounds of the tournament at 286 to finish tied for fourth with a three-round total of 871.
Watkins teammate David Varner moved up to seventh place from the No. 18 spot on Monday with a 69 in the finals as East Carolina placed sixth. Marshall earned its best finish since joining Conference USA at seventh place as senior Christian Brand finished even. SMU, Southern Miss, Rice and UTEP rounded out the field.
UCF receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals, which will be held May 19-21 at six locations. Complete team and individual qualifiers, as well as site of regional play, will be announced next month.
Complete Results are available online by clicking here.
Final Team Standings
1. UCF - 293-289-280=862 (-2)
2. Memphis - 281-299-284=864 (E)
3. Tulsa - 289-288-291=868 (+4)
T5. UAB - 291-294-286=871 (+7)
T5. Houston - 288-297-286=871 (+7)
6. East Carolina - 289-295-290=874 (+10)
7. Marshall - 293-293-292=878 (+14)
T8. SMU - 278-313-293=884 (+20)
T8. Southern Miss - 291-297-296=884 (+20)
10. Rice - 295-306-297=898 (+34)
11. UTEP - 309-301-299=909 (+45)
