MTSU Men repeat as C-USA golf champs, Women's golfer selected for NCAA tournament

Apr 25, 2019 at 08:48 am by Voice Wire

MTSU Golf

After a difficult offseason that saw the Middle Tennessee Men's Golf roster depleted, new Head Coach Mark McEntire led his revamped squad to a spectacular triumph Wednesday as the Blue Raiders clinched their second consecutive Conference USA Championship at Texarkana Country Club.

On a week where all five guys contributed to the win, it was Middle Tennessee's newest teammate, Vanderbilt transfer Cooper Sears, who would provide the heroics on Wednesday evening with a thrilling win on the 24th hole of his finals match.

With the trophy returning to Murfreesboro, the Blue Raiders have earned their third consecutive NCAA Regional berth after hosting the College Grove Regional in 2017 and competing in the Raleigh Regional in 2018.

The Blue Raiders came storming back in their semifinal match against No. 3 seed Charlotte to start the day, claiming several of their last few holes to advance to the finals.

McEntire and his squad found themselves down 4-1 in the team match score with only Tanner Owens and Marcus Byrd left on the course after Sears clinched his match 2 and 1.

With Owens down 1 through 16 and Byrd down 1 through 15, the veteran duo caught fire as they each won two holes before Byrd halved the Par 4 ninth hole to steal a 3-2 win against the 49ers.

The finals match against the Roadrunners was tight the entire way, teetering in favor of each team at points while frequently sitting all square across the five individual matches.

As it came down the stretch, the Raiders were the first to drop a match as freshman Palmer Sadlowski fell 4 and 3.

Senior James Beckner and Owens quickly got their team back in the driver's seat though, clinching their matches 3 and 1 and 2 and 1, respectively.

With sophomore Cooper Sears all square through 18 and moving on to extra holes, Byrd dropped the 17th hole to fall 1 down and couldn't recover on 18, putting the pressure on Middle Tennessee's newest golfer.

Sears, who just arrived in Murfreesboro from Vanderbilt in January, remained all square with UTSA's Michael Rome for five more holes until the pair reached the sixth green for the second time of the afternoon.

After Rome just missed a downhill 20-footer, Sears confidently stepped up and drained a birdie putt from inside 10 feet to clinch the title in Texarkana.

Middle Tennessee now returns home with their season extended and more practices in their future as they await their NCAA Regional destination, which will be announced next Wednesday evening during the selection show on Golf Channel at 8:00 p.m. CT.

Long selected in NCAA Auburn Regional

One day after being named the Conference USA Female Golfer of the Year, Blue Raider senior Hanley Long has been selected to compete the 2019 NCAA Women's Golf Regionals as an individual at the Auburn site.

"I'm super pumped to be going somewhere close enough that my family and friends can be there to be a part of the experience," Long said. "Getting an individual bid to regionals definitely speaks to the talent level our program has been building to the last several years."

Long, Middle Tennessee's first ever league golfer of the year, now becomes the first Blue Raider ever to be selected as an individual for the NCAA Women's Golf Regionals. She did compete as a freshman three seasons ago in the Shoal Creek Regional when Head Coach Chris Adams led her team to the postseason following their second consecutive Conference USA title.

"We knew Hanley's body of work this season would get her to a regional, but finally hearing and seeing her name makes it more of a reality," Adams stated. "It's a real testament to her hard work and it's a huge step in the right direction for our program.

"Obviously we want to be there as a team and we were pretty close this year. To have a player of her caliber represent us in regionals, though, says a lot about this program and will help us tremendously moving forward because it shows that you can succeed as an individual at a high level here at Middle Tennessee."

The Auburn Regional will be played at Saugahatchee Country Club on May 6-8 with a practice round taking place on May 5.

A total of 18 teams and six individuals will compete in three rounds at Saugahatchee with the Top 6 teams and Top 3 individuals not on an advancing team moving on to the NCAA Championships.

Should Long move on to the NCAA Championships, it would mark the 40th appearance of the four-time All-Conference USA honoree's storied career.

"Hopefully this will be motivation for my teammates and future players in the Middle Tennessee program to have the same opportunity to compete in NCAA Regionals as a team or individual," Long added. "I'm excited for the opportunity and plan to leave it all out there in hopes of earning a trip to nationals."

The National Championships take place from May 17-22 at Blessings Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

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