May 5, 2008

Moraga, CA - For the second time in four years, the Saint Mary's men's golf team has been selected to participate in the NCAA Golf Championships, as announced on Monday. The Gaels earned an 18-seed in the 2008 Western Regional, which will take place at the Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton, WA on May 15-17.

"I am really happy for the team and its great to see them rewarded for a solid year," said eighth year head coach Scott Hardy. "We are looking forward to competing in and hopefully advancing through the West Regional."

With the selection into this year's 81-team field, it marks just the second time that the Saint Mary's golf team has been selected to the post-season tournament. The first selection came in 2005 when Hardy, the five-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year, led the Gaels to the school's first ever post-season berth.

With the team being selected to this year's tournament, it marks the fifth straight year that Saint Mary's has been represented in the tournament. In 2004, Joe Lanza was selected as an individual, the team was selected in 2005, Chadd Cocco was an individual selection in 2006, and Mike McRae was selected as an individual last year.

Following the team's selection in 2008, Mike McRae commented, "I am thrilled with this opportunity as it's a testament to a great career. This team has worked very hard to this point, and its great to have a chance to play for a national championship as I close out my career at Saint Mary's."

According to the Golfstat rankings, Saint Mary's will enter the NCAA West Regional ranked 55th in the country. The Gaels have a four-player stroke average of 288.52, which ranks 14th overall in the nation. Saint Mary's also ranks second nationally in green in regulation (.691), sixth in fairways hit (.738), and 10th in par four scoring (4.12).

In addition to the team's stellar play this season, seniors Mike McRae, Chadd Cocco and Josh Kelley were all on the 2004-05 team that went to the school's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. McRae has had the best year of the three, as he currently ranks 30th in the nation in stroke average (71.64) and he is the nation's 85th ranked player according to Golfstat.

The NCAA Championship consists of three regional sites (West, Central, East) with 27 teams and six individuals competing in each regional championship. The top 10 teams and top two individuals not on those teams from each regional will advance to the National Championship (May 28-31), hosted by Purdue University on the Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind.

Three 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 15-17, with 10 teams and two individuals, not on advancing teams, will move on from each regional to the championship finals. The championships will be conducted May 28-31 on the Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University is the host institution for this year's championships.

NCAA WEST REGIONAL - May 15-17
Gold Mountain Golf Course - Bremerton, WA
Hosted by the University of Washington
Teams (seeded in the following order):

1 USC
2 UCLA
3 Florida State
4 Stanford
5 Clemson
6 UNLV
7 North Carolina
8 Texas Tech
9 Central Florida
10 Arizona State
11 San Diego State
12 Texas
13 LSU
14 Oregon State
15 Pepperdine
16 Oregon
17 California
18 Saint Mary's
19 Kentucky
20 Wisconsin
21 Washington
22 Oklahoma
23 Kansas State
24 San Diego
25 Denver
26 Navy
27 Columbia

Individuals:
1 Troy Merritt, Boise State

2 Brian Locke, Loyola Marymount

3 Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona

4 Jason D'Amore, Loyola Marymount
5 Nathan Stamey, North Carolina-Greensboro

6. Jimmy Lytle, Elon