The nation­ally 18^th-ranked Bulldogs con­tin­ued their strong play by fin­ish­ing sec­ond at the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Tournament in Georgetown, Ky.

Coming off a sixth-place fin­ish at the UC-San Diego Southern California Intercollegiate on March 23 in Mission Viejo, Calif., the Bulldogs shot an opening-round best 279. The team shot 300 the sec­ond day and fin­ished with a two-round 579 (+3) team score on the par 72, 7,007-yard Cherry Blossom Golf Course to fin­ish sec­ond among the 24 com­pet­ing teams. The tour­na­ment was the sec­ond of three legs in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Tournament.

Indianapolis University claimed the top spot in the tour­na­ment with a team score of 562 (-14), fin­ish­ing 17 strokes ahead of Ferris. Despite what some would call a suc­cess­ful week­end, Bulldog head coach Mike Mignano said the team was still a lit­tle dis­ap­pointed with a second-place finish.

“The guys were pretty bummed after fin­ish­ing sec­ond, to be hon­est,” said Mignano. “This team has very lofty goals and they are work­ing toward becom­ing bet­ter each week.”

Senior Eric Lilleboe paced the Bulldogs by tying with Indianapolis University’s Seth Fair for a first-day best 67 on his way to a third-place fin­ish. As Lilleboe has devel­oped into a senior leader for the team, Mignano said he is impressed with just how far Lilleboe has come dur­ing his time at Ferris.

“Eric has matured and devel­oped as a student-athlete beyond any expec­ta­tions that the coach­ing staff and his team­mates had for him,” said Mignano. “To watch and coach one of the best play­ers in col­lege golf is truly a great experience.”

Seniors Craig Burrows and Kurt Valley shot 146 for the week­end, plac­ing them in a seven-way tie for 11^th place. Junior Garret Simons was among nine com­peti­tors who fin­ished with a score of 147, good for an 18^th-place finish.

Sophomore Tyler Robinson shot a 157 for the week­end in his first com­pe­ti­tion of the sea­son. The top four scor­ers for each team count toward the over­all team score.

With the strong play to start off the spring sea­son, the Bulldogs will look to move up in the Golf World/Nike Golf Division II Coaches’ Poll as the team is cur­rently ranked 18^th with 115 points. Ferris ranks first in the Midwest Region, fol­lowed by Indianapolis and Wayne State, which are also ranked in the top 25 nationally.

The team will have an oppor­tu­nity to strengthen its rank­ing when it returns to action on April 11 as the Bulldogs will take part in the final leg of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Tournament in Noblesville, Ind. n