PUEBLO, Colo. (May 4, 2022) – Oklahoma Christian will make its fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II South Central-West Super Regional when the Eagles tee off Thursday at Pueblo Country Club, seeking what would be the program's second-ever trip to the Division II Men's Golf Championship.
OC will be one of 20 teams – 10 from the South Central, 10 from the West – who will join eight individual selections for the 54-hole tournament that will last through Saturday. The top four team finishers in each of four Super Regional tournaments will advance to the national tournament, set for May 16-20 at TPC Michigan in Detroit.
OC's starting five for the Super Regional will include
Oskari Nikku, a freshman from Tuusula, Finland;
Andres Brictson, a senior from Merida, Mexico;
Exequiel Rodriguez, a freshman from Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Alejandro Armijo, a junior from Rio Rancho, N.M.; and sophomore
Mateo Pulcini, a sophomore from Rio Cuarto, Argentina. That quintet has combined for nine individual collegiate wins – five from Brictson and two each from Pulcini and Armijo.
The Eagles will tee off at 10:10 a.m. Mountain time (11:10 a.m. Central) and will be grouped in the first round with Western Washington and Midwestern State (Texas), which won titles last month in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Lone Star Conference, respectively. Midwestern State downed OC in the match-play semifinals in the LSC tournament.
The Eagles have qualified for a Super Regional in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021, and would have in 2020 had the season not ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Except for that first year, the Eagles haven't advanced into the national tournament, but coach
David Lynn and the Eagles have good reasons for optimism this year.
The primary one is that OC won a regional preview tournament on the same course in October – one of the Eagles' four tournament wins this season – with Armijo earning medalist honors. Midwestern State finished second in the 19-team field, eight shots behind the Eagles.
The Eagles have enjoyed much success this season. In addition to their four wins, they haven't finished lower than fourth in any of their 10 tournaments so far. OC has a 104-12-1 head-to-head record this season against Division II competition, including a 50-7-0 mark against South Central teams and a 6-0-0 mark against West teams. The Eagles are 27-6-0 this season against teams in this week's Super Regional field
The 10 South Central teams in the field will be (in order of seeding) OC, Midwestern State, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion Colorado State-Pueblo, Cameron, Texas A&M-Commerce, St. Mary's (Texas), Colorado Christian, Colorado-Colorado Springs, Colorado Mesa and West Texas A&M (which is coached by former OC All-American Axel Ochoa).
Representing the West Region, in order of seeding, will be Western Washington, Simon Fraser (British Columbia), California Collegiate Athletic Association champion Sonoma State (Calif.), Chico State (Calif.), California State-Monterey Bay, California State-San Bernardino, California State-San Marcos, Stanislaus State (Calif.), California State-East Bay and Pacific West Conference champion Hawaii Pacific.
Individual invitees are from Fort Lewis (Colo.), Texas A&M International, Western New Mexico, Westminster (Utah), California State-Dominguez Hills, Saint Martin's (Wash.), Holy Names (Calif.) and Dominican (Calif.).
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