EMCC golf team places fifth at NJCAA Region 23 Championship; Lion sophomore Miles Respess earns national invite
Making their fourth regional appearance in five years, the East Mississippi Community College men's golf team placed fifth at this week's NJCAA Region 23 Golf Championship held Monday and Tuesday at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club.
PHILADELPHIA – Making their fourth regional appearance in five years, the East Mississippi Community College men's golf team placed fifth at this week's NJCAA Region 23 Golf Championship held Monday and Tuesday at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club.
After standing third following Monday's opening round, head coach Dale Peay's EMCC Lions (323-316—639) improved seven strokes with a team score of 316 on Tuesday to finish just eight strokes behind regional runner-up Copiah-Lincoln Community College (324-307--631). The Bulldogs of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College breezed to their sixth consecutive regional golf championship by firing team scores of 311 and 304 for a two-day total of 615. East Central (312-322—634) and Northwest Mississippi (329-308—637) finished third and fourth, respectively, during the two-day, ECCC-hosted event held at the Azaleas course.
Individually for EMCC, sophomore Miles Respess (76-76—152) claimed all-region honors and earned a spot in next month's NJCAA Division II National Championship by tying East Central's Shelby Patterson (74-78—152) for fourth place. The national championship event will be held May 21-24 at Goose Pond Colony in Scottsboro, Ala.
Respess, from Paragould, Ark., becomes the fourth EMCC golfer in five years to qualify for the NJCAA Championship, joining previous participants Weston Wallace and Zack Bailey (both in 2011) as well as Hal Larkin (2009).
Region 23 individual medalist honors went to Co-Lin's Corbin May, who carded rounds of 73 and 5-under-par 67 to finish nine strokes better than runner-up Branning Dykes (70-79—149) of Jones County Junior College. Along with the MGCCC team, joining May, Dykes, Patterson and Respess at nationals will be Northwest's Chad Cupples, who qualified as a result of being a returning NJCAA All-American from a year ago.
Fellow EMCC all-state performer Nick Davis (77-77—154) finished in a four-way tie for sixth place, but the Springville, Ala., native lost to Northwest's Jack Byrd on the second playoff hole to just miss out on earning the first alternate spot for the national championship field.
Rounding out EMCC's scorecard at regionals were first-team all-state selection Caleb Westmoreland (85-80—165; T19th), Matt Belk (85-83—168; 24th), and Chase Smith (97-89—186; 30th).
NJCAA Region 23 Championship Final Team Results
NJCAA Region 23 Championship Final Individual Results