GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs won three of the five matches and tied another match in today's title contest to earn a sweep of the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships today in a 4-0-1 victory against Colorado Mines at the Golf Club of Estrella. It's the 12th conference championship in program history and the 17th for any sport in UCCS history.
Chris Reina,
Zach Berhost and
Colin Prater won their individual matches. Prater earned a spot on the All-Tournament team after a tie for second in the individual championship, which took place during the morning rounds today and yesterday. He finished with a 3-under 141.
Prater shot a 3-under 69 in today's round to win by a 13-stroke margin in his individual match against Colorado Mines. It was his best round of the tournament and it was his 15th round of the season at or below par. His runner-up finish in the individual championship was his fourth top-two finish and fifth top-five finish of the season.
Berhost rebounded today after he struggled in yesterday's quarterfinal and semifinal matches to win his match by seven strokes on a 1-over 73.
Chris Reina turned in a 1-under 71 for a four-stroke victory. Reina won all three of his matches this tournament and finished fifth in the overall individual championship with a 2-over 146 after his 75 in the quarterfinal round. He earned a spot on the All-tournament Team with Prater.
Zach Tripp split his team point with a 3-over 75 against Mines, and finished with a 2-0-1 record in the tournament. He placed seventh in the individual race with a 5-over 149 as UCCS was the only team with three top-10 finishers. Tripp has finished in the top 10 in three of the last four tournaments and in the top 15 in all four tournaments.
Kyle Southard placed No. 12 in the individual championship after a 76 in today's round for a tournament score of 151. He finished four strokes behind in his match to the best score for the Orediggers in the match.
The tournament championship provided the Mountain Lions the automatic bid from the RMAC in the West / South Central Region Championships on May 2-4. UCCS was the top-ranked team in the South Central Region before the tournament and would have likely qualified as an at-large team without the championship.
The NCAA will announce the 10 teams that advance from the South Central Region on Friday afternoon. The regional championships will take place at the New Mexico State University Golf Course in Las Cruces, N.M.
