April 27, 2005

KINGWOOD, Texas - The UTA men's golf team claimed its first Southland Conference championship since 1999 and an automatic berth into the NCAA Central Regional Tournament with a 13-stroke win over runner-up Louisiana-Mornoe at the 2005 SLC Men's Golf Championships here Wednesday.

UTA saved its best for last with the low round of the tournament, a six-under-par 282, to pull away from the defending conference champions with a 54-hole total of three-under-par 861. The score ties for the fifth lowest round recorded in a three-round conference championship dating back to 1964.

"It was five guys who believed in the system," said head coach Jay Rees, who will lead the Mavs to a second NCAA appearance under his watch, the last coming as an at-large team in 2002. "Today is a great day for the program. I am proud of the way they represented the University. There were no short cut, we have done this the right way."

Krantz won the medallist title after a final round 69 on the 7,058-yard, par-72 Kingwood Forest Course. He joins Jason Hughes (1995) and Adam Babb (2000) as the third Maverick to win the individual title in the last 11 years.

"It has been a long process," said Krantz, the last man on the squad in 2000. "I have worked hard with coach. All three days I played within myself. It has been something coach has told me for a long time, but I guess maturity set in. I trusted myself. I was glad with had adverse conditions the first two days because I always play better when the conditions are tough."

Krantz carded a 69 despite intermittent rain on Monday and followed it with a 70 during windy conditions Tuesday.

Junior Tyrone Mordt tallied three straight rounds of 71 to tie for second place with ULM's Tim Kunick. Redshirt freshman Zack Reeves matched his best tournament of the year with a three-round total of 218 to tie for fourth place.

Junior Jeff Murray and sophomore Marc Campbell finished in the top 20. Murray had a final round 72 for a 223 to tie for 12th while Campbell carded a 75 to tie for 16th.

UTA will conclude the regular season at the prestigious Maxwell Cup in Ardmore, Okla., May 15-16. The NCAA Central Regionals are May 19-21 in South Bend, Ind.

Here are the results of the 2005 Southland Conference Men's Golf Championships played at the par-72, 7,058-yard Kingwood Forest course.

Team standings - UTA 289-290-282-861, La.-Monroe 297-291-286-873, Lamar 288-301-300-889, S.F. Austin 293-302-298-893, SE Louisiana 293-309-300-902, McNeese State 295-311-305-911, Texas-San Antonio 303-312-297-912, Sam Houston State 304-304-307-915, Texas State 297-316-305-918, Nicholls State 325-306-316-947.

Individual results - Jordan Krantz, UTA 69-70-69-205; (tie) Tyrone Mordt, UTA 71-71-71-213 and Tim Kunick, ULM 70-71-72-213; (tie) Zack Reeves, UTA 76-74-70-218 and Pat Collogan, ULM 77-69-72-218; Dawie VanDerWalt, Lamar 71-76-72-219; Casey Russell, ULM 71-77-72-220 and Dustin Byrd, SFA 69-78-73-220; Peter O'Keefe, SLU 71-77-79-221.

Other UTA results - t12, Jeff Murray 75-76-72-223; t16, Marc Campbell 76-75-75-226.