April 23, 2004

Men's Golf Receives NCAA Regional Bid

The Bulldog men's golf team received its third straight NCAA regional bid today. The team will compete at the NCAA Super Regional in Union, Ky. on May 3-5.

Truman will take on seven other schools from the Central Region with the winner automatically advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships, which will be played on May 12-15 in Orlando, Fla. Most of the opponents at the regional will be familiar as six MIAA schools will be competing at the event. The Bulldogs finished fifth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association this season.

Despite finishing in the bottom half of the conference, Truman has shown it has the potential to do well at the NCAA Super Regional. At the Central Region Fall Invitational earlier this season, the Bulldogs won the event which included most of the teams that will be competing at the upcoming NCAA event.

Junior Jason Bertram (Manchester, Mo./Parkway South) has been the team's top performer this year. He has led or tied for the team-high in five of the seven tournaments he competed in and has a team-best 76.3 average.

Freshman Jesse Helms (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro) and junior Austin George (Wichita, Kan./Andover) are second and third, respectively, on the team in scoring average. Helms has averaged 77.6 strokes in his first season and led the team at the MIAA Championship earlier this week. George had a 77.7 average and he captured medalist honors this year at the Central Missouri Tournament.

Seniors Jake Mann (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth) and Brett Meeske (Moline, Ill./Moline) will likely round out the squad for the NCAA Regional. Mann averaged 79.5 shots a round and was second on the team in three events during the year. Meeske averaged 79.1 shots and led the team at the Missouri Southern Tournament.

Central Region Selections:
1. Missouri Southern State
2. Washburn [Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association]
3. Central Missouri State
4. Missouri Western State
5. Winona State
6. Truman
7. Southwest Baptist
8. Bemidji State