For the second consecutive year, Colorado Springs resident Colin Prater came ever so close to earning a trip to the Men’s NCAA Division II Finals, only to fall just short.
Prater, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs golfer who won the 2016 CGA Amateur, finished fourth out of 108 players Wednesday in the West/South Central Regional in Stockton, Calif. But only the top five teams and the top two individuals not on those teams advance to the NCAA Finals, set for May 22-26 in Kissimmee, Fla.
UCCS placed eighth in the team standings, meaning Prater would need to qualify as an individual if he wanted to advance. But two players Chico State’s Kelley Sullivan and BYU-Hawaii’s Nicolas Herrera also didn’t make it with their teams, but finished a stroke better than Prater (pictured).
Prater shared the overall lead at one point on Wednesday — after starting the day with five birdies in his first six holes — but a double-bogey 7 and a bogey dropped him off the pace. He eagled his 13th hole and bogeyed his 14th en route to a 3-under-par 69, leaving him at 11-under 205 overall.
Trevor Lampson of California Baptist captured the individual title at 201.
Also finishing in the top 10 individually for a Colorado-based team on Wednesday was Trevor McKune of Colorado Mesa, who claimed eighth place at 207.
In the team competition, besides UCCS placing eighth in the 20-school field, Colorado State-Pueblo was 10th, Colorado School of Mines 13th and Colorado Christian 18th.
MEN’S NCAA DIV. II REGIONALS
May 8-10, 2017 in Stockton, Calif.
8. (out of 20 teams) Colorado-Colorado Springs 293-278-287–858
4. Colin Prater 70-66-69–205
72. Tanner Comes 69-68-84–221
72. Zach Berhost 78-70-73–221
96. Blake Young 80-74-72–226
100. Ji Jang 76-78-73–227
10. Colorado State-Pueblo 283-286-290–859
15. Jake Ice 69-67-75–211
25. Neil Tillman 72-71-70–213
56. GJ Kuhn 73-75-70–218
82. Roy Carlsen 69-73-80–222
96. Jacob Allenback 73-78-75–226
13. Colorado School of Mines 290-280-292–862
25. George Markham 71-70-72–213
31. Tim Amundson 74-67-73–214
42. Nic Beno 76-69-71–216
72. Taylor MacKay 69-76-76–221
96. Eric Marshall 76-74-76–226
18. Colorado Christian 285-298-285–868
19. Chase Carlson 70-73-69–212
64. Jack Cummings 73-70-76–219
72. Josh Gardella 69-79-73–221
72. Hayden Nicholaides 73-76-72–221
93. Andrew Kennedy 75-79-71–225
Also
8. Trevor McKune, Colorado Mesa 66-68-73–207
42. Jordan McBrayer, Regis 74-71-71–216
