Clippers earn at-large bid to NCAA East/ Atlantic Regional

On April 22, the NCAA released the NCAA Regional selections and the Concordia College golf team has received an at-large bid and a #10 ranking to the East / Atlantic NCAA Regional, which will be held at the Hershey Links GC in Hershey, PA. on May 1 - 3.

The selections were made by the East Regional Advisory Committee and were confirmed by the NCAA, who determine the final selections for each of the six Division II regions.

The six regions are paired into three Regionals. Concordia is in the East Region, which will be paired with the Atlantic Region, forming the East / Atlantic Regional. Ten schools from each region compose the 20-team East / Atlantic Regional, which will have a 108-player field (four individuals from each region are selected as well).

The top five schools in the 20-team East/ Atlantic Regional and one individual not on an advancing school will move on to the NCAA Nationals.

According to the Golfstat rankings released on April 13, Concordia is #5 in the East Region in scoring average versus par, finishing the regular season with an average of score of 310.50 per round for sixteen rounds.

The Clippers enter the post-season with a 32-21 record in the East Region head-to-head standings and a 34-21 record against all Division II schools. Concordia also owns a 21-6 record in the CACC head-to-head standings.

Here are the Atlantic/ East Regional selections and rankings:

From: NCAA
Division II Men's Golf:
2011 Atlantic/East Regional - May 2-4, 2011 (Practice Round May 1, 2011)

Hershey Links Golf Club; Hershey, Pennsylvania; hosted by Millersville University of Pennsylvania:

Atlantic Region:

1.         Indiana (Pennsylvania) [Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference]

2.         Concord [West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference]

3.         Clarion

4.         West Chester

5.         California (Pennsylvania)

6.         Charleston (West Virginia)

7.         West Liberty

8.         Bluefield State

9.         Virginia State [Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association]

10.      Mercyhurst

Individuals:

1.         John M. Cole, Fayetteville State

2.         Sean Burke, Ohio Valley

3.         Alasdair Forsythe, Davis and Elkins

4.         Drew Deimel, Gannon

East Region:

1.         Wilmington (Delaware) [Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference]

2.         St. Thomas Aquinas

3.         American International

4.         Post

5.         Adelphi [Northeast-10 Conference]

6.         Dowling

7.         Le Moyne

8.         Goldey-Beacom

9.         Bentley

10.      Concordia (New York)

Individuals:

1.         Matt Horton, Saint Rose

2.         Kent St. Charles, Pace

3.         Rick Bylund, Assumption

4.         Joseph Leardo, Felician

"An achievement like this is a college-wide accomplishment," commented coach Scott Allen. "Something like this happens because the various components of the Concordia community work together to create a foundation that makes it easy for our coaches and student-athletes to achieve at a high level. The students on the team earned this bid. They were unrelenting in their practice habits. The team really stood up to the pressure. They showed incredible mettle at key times: the second rounds at Dominican and the CACCs are two examples. They piled up a lot of key wins and did it in district tournaments. I'm happy most of all for the Athletic Department. Ivan was the only other person beside me when we started out two years ago nutty enough to think we make this happen in this time frame."

Concordia College will return to action May 1 -- 3 in the NCAA East/ Atlantic Regional at the Hershey Links GC in Hershey, PA.