GEORGETOWN, Ky. – Midwestern State freshman Jeremy LeGuen only needed to par on his 54th hole at the Midwest/South Central Regional at the Cherry Blossom Golf Course on Wednesday to clinch an individual berth in the NCAA Division II Championships.
 
But with his only double-bogey of the tournament on the par-4, 406-yard 7th hole, he posted a final round of 76 for a one-over-par 217.
 
"Jeremy had a great tournament," said MSU Coach Jeff Ray. "He just missed the fairways the last four or five holes and it cost him some shots."
 
Fate was with him as West Texas A&M's Ben Hargis, bogeyed his final hole of the shotgun start at 17, but still fired a three-under 69, the best round of the day, to match LeGuen at 217 and force a playoff for the final individual spot.
 
Hargis, playing in the tournament as an individual, posted a birdie on the playoff hole to claim the trip to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Florence, Ala. 
 
"Jeremy hit a great shot and put his approach 20 feet from the hole," Ray described. "Hargis dropped his eight feet from the pin and made his putt."
 
Hargis joins Eric Johnson of Wayne State (Mich.) who finished third with a two-under 214 as the two top individuals not playing with a team.
 
The Lone Star Conference's Abilene Christian and Central Oklahoma tied for regional champion honors at 876, with Cameron third at 881. Missouri-St. Louis and Central Missouri were fourth, tied at 893 to take last two positions to the national tournament as teams.
 
The playoff capped a long day for all, as the tournament played 36 holes – the second and third rounds – because of rain on Tuesday.
 
LeGuen, who stood second after the first round, shot a two-over 74 in the morning's first round, but followed it with the four-over 76 in the final 18. His 217 tied for eighth individually.
 
The freshman from Highland Village/Flower Mound Marcus led the Mustangs team to a 14th place finish for the tournament. MSU put up rounds of 309 and 308 to finish at 912, two strokes behind Lewis in 13th and a stroke better than St. Mary's at 913 in 15th.
 
Sophomore Raine Copeland finished tied for 27th at 8-over 224 following rounds of four-over 76 and three-over 75.
 
Sam Smith added a pair of six-over 78 to total 231. Brett Perry carded an 81 and 79 for a 240, while Trevor Arianna turned in an 86-85 for a 251.
 
"We really had a good year, these kids have been through a lot," said Ray. "With the injury to Travis (Klutts) that kept him out the entire spring and a teammate quitting school, to finish where we did is great."
 
Ray also beamed about his conference's finish at the combined regional.
 
"The LSC finished 1-2-3 and Central Missouri's in our South Central Region. That's four of the five teams advancing to the national tournament."
 
The Mustangs return all five players for next season and Ray is also excited for the recruits he has coming for MSU.
 
"Our goal is to make the national tournament, and barring anything unusual like this year, I think we will."
 

NCAA II Midwest/South Central Regional
Cherry Blossom Golf Course
Georgetown, Ky.
Par-72, 6,842 yards
Team Leaderboard
Place									Team	Round Scores	Total	To Par
1									Central Oklahoma	296-290-290	876	+12
									Abilene Christian (Texas)	289-287-300	876	+12
3									Cameron (Okla.)	290-302-289	881	+17
4									Missouri-St. Louis	293-300-300	893	+29
5									Central Missouri	291-305-297	893	+29
6									Grand Valley State (Mich.)	294-291-311	896	+32
7									Northern Kentucky	294-302-303	899	+35
									Wayne State (Mich.)	287-311-301	899	+35
									Ashland (Ohio)	295-305-299	899	+35
10									Newman (Kan.)	300-297-304	901	+37
11									Bellarmine (Ky.)	300-303-302	905	+41
12									Drury (Mo.)	300-297-312	909	+45
13									Lewis (Ill.)	302-304-304	910	+46
14									Midwestern State (Texas)	295-309-308	912	+48
15									St. Mary's (Texas)	301-311-301	913	+49
16									Washburn (Kan.)	307-306-301	914	+50
									Ferris State (Mich.)	303-309-302	914	+50
18									Indianapolis (Ind.)	303-315-297	915	+51
									St. Edward's (Texas)	297-308-310	915	+51
20									Northeastern State (Okla.)	302-308-306	916	+52
Individual Leaderboard
Place									Player, Team	Round Scores	Total	To Par
1									Cyril Bouniol, Abilene Christian	66-70-73	209	-7
2									Colby Shrum, Central Oklahoma	72-72-69	213	-3
3									Eric Johnson, Wayne State	70-74-70	214	-2
4									Matt Miller, Central Missouri	71-73-71	215	-1
									Trey Lawson, Cameron	70-75-70	215	-1
6									Jason Timmis, Cameron	73-71-72	216	E
									Ryan Penfield, Missouri-St. Louis	70-74-72	216	E
8									Jeremy LeGuen, Midwestern State	67-74-76	217	+1
									Ben Hargis, West Texas A&M	77-71-69	217	+1
10									Josh Creel, Central Oklahoma	75-72-72	219	+3
									Logan Watts, Lewis	75-74-70	219	+3
									Garrett Simons, Ferris State	71-70-78	219	+3
Midwestern State Scorecard
14									Midwestern State	295-309-308	912	+48
8t									Jeremy LeGuen	67-74-76	217	+1
27t									Raine Copeland	73-76-75	224	+8
68t									Sam Smith	75-78-78	231	+15
98t									Brett Perry	80-81-79	240	+24
107									Trevor Arianna	80-86-85	251	+35