In their biggest and final match of the year—NJCAA Region IV tournament, Oct. 4-6—the Cyclones knew they had to play their best golf to have any shot of competing at nationals. They played their best at Senica's Oak Ridge Golf Club in LaSalle, Illinois, with three guys seeing their lowest round of the year, among a talented field, finishing eighth overall.
The regional golf field was loaded with talent this year. Black Hawk College finished in first place, breaking the region scoring record by 32 shots. The whole region stepped up their games, and the Cyclones did their best to keep up. Like last year's regionals, the weather altered the schedule. The team played 18 holes on Oct. 4, then 27 the following day and nine on the last day.
"Playing 27 on Friday made for a long day and proved to be too much to handle for some of the field. Jimmy [Goich] was one of those guys. He played that last nine holes in five over par. When it was all said and done, he missed a trip to nationals by four strokes," said Coach Matt Lovelace.
Goich shot his lowest round of the season, 72, as did Paul Douglas with a 74 and Sean McKernan with 80. Overall, the team finished with 319, identical to their last match this season. Goich led (81, 72, 79) followed by Douglas (80, 84, 74), Thomas Rodriguez (79, 83, 83), McKernan (90, 80, 83) and Akim Bizati (101, 86, 90).
"The tournament turned out to be great for us. Our team showed great progression this fall. We went back-to-back with our best team scores of the season to close. The guys peaked at the right time, however, it was not good enough to keep up with the competition," Lovelace said. "But, this event turn out to be exactly what we hoped for."