As the Sooner Athletic Conference individual champion, Wayland Baptist freshman
Johannes Hounsgaard had already qualified for the NAIA Men's Golf National Championships. Now, he'll be joined by all of his teammates.
The Pioneers were awarded an at-large bid into the field for the 68
th annual national championships, scheduled for May 21-24 at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz.
It appears 20
th-ranked Wayland received the last of 11 at-large invitations. The 156-player field includes 19 automatic qualifying teams that won or finished runner-up in their respective conference, independent, or unaffiliated group tournament, one host berth to Benedictine-Mesa, and 11 at-large team berths, in addition to six individuals.
At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll released today. To receive an individual automatic berth, a player must win his respective conference tournament or be an All-Tournament Team honoree from the previous year's national championships that did not qualify otherwise.
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Wayland finished third at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships, which the Pioneers hosted at Tascosa Golf Club's La Paloma Course in Amarillo on April 22 and 23. That event was won by Texas Wesleyan, which slipped from third to fifth in the Top 25. Oklahoma City, which remained ranked No. 2, finished as tournament runner-up.
Under coach
Tom Harp, Wayland has qualified for nationals as a team every year except one since 2003. The lone year the Pioneers didn't qualify as a team they were represented by individual Michael Loppnow.
WBU's best finish at nationals was second in 2007. The Pioneers have nine top-10 finishes, including four in a row.
First- and second-round pairings and tee times for the championships will be announced Friday at approximately 2 p.m. CDT onÂ
www.NAIA.org.
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Each day of the national championship will be captured in a video daily recap, available for free on theÂ
NAIA Facebook page. Highlights, interviews and more can be seen by 8 p.m. CDT each day.
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2019 Men's Golf National Championships Team Qualifiers
| Potential Qualifiers |
Qualification Method |
Titles |
Ind. Titles |
| Arizona Christian |
Golden State Athletic Conference Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) |
A.I.I./Red River Athletic Conference Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Victoria (B.C.) |
At-Large |
0 |
1 |
| William Woods (Mo.) |
American Midwest Conference Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Point (Ga.) |
Appalachian Athletic Conference Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Truett-McConnell (Ga.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Sierra Nevada |
California Pacific Conference Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Benedictine-Mesa (Ariz.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Oregon Tech |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Holy Cross (Ind.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conf. Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Taylor (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
Frontier Conference Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Morningside (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Conf. Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Missouri Valley |
Heart of America Athletic Conf. |
0 |
0 |
| Kansas Wesleyan |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conf. Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Cumberland (Tenn.) |
Mid-South Conference Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Bellevue (Neb.) |
North Star Athletic Association Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| Brescia (Ky.) |
River States Athletic Conference |
0 |
0 |
| Wayland Bapt. (Texas) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Dalton State (Ga.) |
Southern States Athletic Conf. Tournament Champion |
0 |
2 |
| William Carey (Miss.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Johnson & Wales (Fla.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Keiser (Fla.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| Thomas (Ga.) |
At-Large |
0 |
0 |
| USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
The Sun Conference Tournament Champion |
0 |
0 |
| University of NW Ohio |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conf. Tourn. Champion |
0 |
0 |
| British Columbia |
Cascade Collegiate Conf. Tourn. Champion |
1 |
0 |
| Coastal Georgia |
At-Large |
2 |
0 |
| Texas Wesleyan |
Sooner Athletic Conf. Tourn. Champion |
6 |
11 |
| Oklahoma City |
At-Large |
11 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
Individual Qualifiers (listed alphabetically by last name)
| Name |
School |
Qualification |
| Callum Blinkhorm |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
Mid-South Conference Medalist |
| Sean Benson |
Montana Tech (Mont.) |
Frontier Conference Medalist |
| Caleb Badura |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Conference Medalist |
| Tyler Pearson |
Indiana East (Ind.) |
River States Conference Medalist |
| Robert Penalber |
The Master's (Calif.) |
Golden State Athletic Conference Medalist |
| *TBA |
TBA |
At-Large |
| *Will be announced Friday at 2 p.m. |
|
|
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NAIA Coaches' Top 25
| RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL |
FINAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Coastal Georgia [17] |
528 |
| 2 |
2 |
Oklahoma City [1] |
512 |
| 3 |
5 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
478 |
| 4 |
6 |
University of Northwestern Ohi |
468 |
| 5 |
3 |
Texas Wesleyan |
461 |
| 6 |
4 |
Dalton State (Ga.) [1] |
453 |
| 7 |
7 |
Point (Ga.) |
438 |
| 8 |
8 |
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
420 |
| 9 |
10 |
Johnson & Wales (Fla.) |
376 |
| 10 |
11 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
375 |
| 11 |
9 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
360 |
| 12 |
13 |
British Columbia |
338 |
| 13 |
12 |
Thomas (Ga.) |
336 |
| 14 |
16 |
Taylor (Ind.) |
286 |
| 15 |
18 |
William Woods (Mo.) |
280 |
| 16 |
14 |
Oregon Tech |
259 |
| 17 |
15 |
Victoria (B.C.) |
258 |
| 18 |
17 |
Missouri Valley |
250 |
| 19 |
19 |
Truett-McConnell (Ga.) |
224 |
| 20 |
20 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
216 |
| 21 |
22 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
204 |
| 22 |
25 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
144 |
| 23 |
21 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
131 |
| 24 |
NR |
Park (Mo.) |
124 |
| 25 |
NR |
Mobile (Ala.) |
92 |
Dropped from the Top 25:Â Southeastern (Fla.) and Loyola (La.)
Others Receiving Votes:Â Â Southeastern (Fla.) 84, Kansas Wesleyan 82, Loyola (La.) 57, Columbia (Mo.) 43, Arizona Christian 36, Holy Cross (Ind.) 24, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 22, Cumberland (Tenn.) 18, Sterling (Kan.) 9, SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 5, Tennessee Wesleyan 4, Midland (Neb.) Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 4, Corban (Ore.) 3, and Marian (Ind.) 3
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