Braves Finish 10th At NCAA Championships, Break PBC Record

SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. – Michael Mullmann tallied six birdies en route to a 1-under-par 71 and Jordan Walor carded a 1-over-par 73, but fourth-ranked UNCP was unable to find its way back among the top eight teams and finished their stay at the NCAA Championships with a 10th place finish on Thursday.

Walor (-2) exited the three-round tournament at 2-under-par and settled for a 14th place finish despite turning in below-par scores in each of the first two rounds of the event. Mullmann (+5) turned in his best score of the tournament en route to finishing in a tie for 39th place, while Carson Lanier (+6) concluded the event in a tie for 46th after carding a 3-over-par 75 on Thursday. Seniors Jonathan McCurry (+11) and Scott Lambert shot 76 and 77, respectively, in the final round of stoke play and shared 71st place on the final individual leaderboard.

UNCP (+15) booked its second-best round of the week and came off the course in a tie for 12th, but jumped up two spots as the rest of the field battled extremely windy conditions at the University of Louisville's Cardinal Club as well. The short trek up the leaderboard was not enough, though, as the Black & Gold finished six strokes off of Central Missouri who grabbed the eighth and final spot heading into Friday's match play quarterfinal round.

Seventh-ranked Chico State (-13) will head into match play as the top seed and will take on eighth-seeded Central Missouri (+9) in Friday's match play quarterfinals. Other matchups on Friday will include top-ranked Nova Southeastern (-9) against 14th-ranked USC Aiken (+6), 13th-ranked Central Oklahoma (-8) against second-ranked Barry (+2) and third-ranked CSU-Stanislaus (-6) against 18th-ranked Georgia College (-2).

The Braves, who finished third or better in 10 of the 12 events they competed in this season, also set a new Peach Belt Conference single season record by concluding their 2011-12 campaign with a 288.84 stroke average. That number breaks a two-year old league record set by Georgia College who registered a 289.77 stroke average during the 2009-10 campaign.

Walor, who ranks second in PBC history with eight career victories, concluded his senior campaign with a school record 71.39 stroke average – the third-best average in league annals, and the lowest since Clayton State's Will Wilcox posted a PBC record 71.06 stroke average during the 2008-09 season.

TEAM SCORES
1. No. 7 Chico State   289-277-285/851   -13
2. No. 1 Nova Southeastern   291-284-280/855   -9
3. No. 13 Central Oklahoma   279-290-287/856   -8
4. No. 3 CSU Stanislaus   294-279-285/858   -6
5. No. 18 Georgia College   289-288-285/862   -2
6. No. 2 Barry   290-287-289/866   +2
7. No. 14 USC Aiken   292-288-290/870   +6
8. Central Missouri   295-289-289/873   +9
9. No. 9 Western Washington   287-291-296/874   +10
10. No. 4 UNC Pembroke   285-299-295/879   +15
T11. No. 21 Colorado School of Mines   293-291-298/882   +18
T11. No. 28 Indianapolis   298-294-290/882   +18
13. No. 11 St. Edward's   291-289-303/883   +19
14. Indiana (Pa.)   290-293-301/884   +20
15. Washburn   304-298-292/894   +30
16. No. 12 Grand Canyon   292-304-301/897   +33
17. No. 30 Wilmington (Del.)   300-297-312/909   +45
18. St. Thomas Aquinas   301-310-319/930   +66
19. Concord   314-307-310/931   +67
20. Post   334-306-310/950   +86

UNCP SCORES
14. Jordan Walor   70-71-73/214   -2
T39. Michael Mullmann   72-78-71/221   +5
T45. Carson Lanier   71-76-75/222   +6
T71. Scott Lambert   76-74-77/227   +11
T71. Jonathan McCurry   72-79-76/227   +11