Jacket Men Wrap up Fall with Twelfth Place Finish in Bakersfield (Oct. 19, 2004)

BAKERSFIELD, CA – The Montana State-Billings men’s golf team improved one place in Tuesday’s final round of the Elco, Inc. Invitational hosted by Cal State-Bakersfield, moving into a tie for twelfth place with Cal State-San Bernardino.  The Yellowjackets finished with a 34-over par 898 for the 54 hole tournament.

Hawaii-Hilo captured the team title with a 6-under 858.  The Vulcans cooled off Tuesday after blistering the course through the first two rounds at 12-under.  Hilo’s Colin Gilliam took top individual honors with a 5-under 211.

The Yellowjackets were led by Chris McConnell’s thirtieth place finish.  The junior from Lewistown, Mont., finished with an 8-over 222 after his round of 76 on Tuesday.  Freshman Nicholas Larson (Riverton, WY) had the Yellowjackets’ best final round with an even-par 72.  Larson finished in a tie for 36^th place at 9-over 223.  Fellow freshman Zach Abels (Twin Falls, ID) placed in a tie for 44^th with an 11-over 225.

The Bakersfield tournament was the Yellowjackets’ final tournament of the fall.  They also played at the Western Washington Invitational and Cal State-Chico Invitational.  They will resume play in the spring championship segment of the schedule, which will conclude with the PacWest Championships in Hilo, HI.

MSU Billings Men
T30      Chris McConnell          72-74-76—222
T36      Nicholas Larson           74-77-72—223
T44      Zach Abels                77-73-75—225
T66      Chris Haas                 79-74-78—231
T66      Bryan Barthelmess       76-77-78—231

Team Standings
1. Hawaii-Hilo                        286-278-294—858
2. CSU-Bakersfield                  286-293-295—874
3. Western Washington           292-288-295—875
4. CSU-Monterey Bay             290-288-299—877
   CSU-San Marcos                 288-288-301—877
6. CSU-Stanislaus                    285-295-298—878
7. UC-San Diego                     295-291-295—881
8. Grand Canyon                      283-300-301—884
9. St. Martin’s                          283-294-308—885
10. CSU-Chico                        298-290-298—886
11. Point Loma Naz.                297-298-298—893
12. MSU Billings                      299-298-301—898
     CSU-San Bernardino          292-309-297—898
14. Sonoma State                     296-297-308—901
15. Fresno State                       299-298-311—908
16. CSU-Dominguez Hills         314-302-309—925
17. Northwest Nazarene           330-329-325—984

Top 10 Individuals
1. Colin Gilliam, UHH               69-71-71—211
2. Bryan Manning, GCU           66-74-73—213
   Shane Prante, SMC               67-70-76—213
   Greg Lopez, CSUB               70-70-73—213
5. Justin Stover, GCU               65-72-77—214
   Scott Conway, CSUSM        71-74-69—214
   Tony Orlandini, CSUB          70-71-73—214
8. Mark Baker, CSUB             74-70-71—215
   Daniel Horning, PtLoma         72-70-73—215
  AJ Shiffert, CSUS                  70-71-74—215