LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Midwestern State's Keaton Dickens matched a season low and Robert Garcia remained in contention for an individual berth at nationals Friday afternoon in the NCAA Division II South Central/West Regional at the New Mexico State University Golf Course.

But the Mustangs just couldn't make enough birdies to stay in reach for a team berth.

MSU fired a 4-over 285 as a team and stand ninth heading into Saturday's final round with a 15-over, 36-hole tally of 583 which is 14 strokes back of fifth place.

"On this golf course, you have to have four quality golf scores," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "This is a very gettable golf course particularly on Holes 12-16. You have to make birdies out here. We're not playing terrible, but we're not playing well enough to advance either."

The top five teams and two low individuals not on an advancing team qualify to compete in the NCAA Division II Championship from May 21-25 at Orange County National Golf Club in Winter Garden, Florida.

Dickens carded four birdies, including two on par-3s and one each on a par-4 and a par-5 to close with a 2-under 69. That matched his lowest round of the season set previously Dallas Baptist Fall Invitational.

It was a 10-stroke improvement of his opening round 79 as the Iowa Park native moved into a tie for 54th place with a 36-hole, 6-over total of 148.

Garcia continued his steady play with a second consecutive 1-under 70, scoring three birdies to just one bogey, closing the second round in a tie for 13th place with a 2-under 140.

Garcia is currently within six strokes of the second low golfer not on a team projected to advance to nationals.

California State-San Bernardino's Chris Wardrup is tied for first at 6-under followed by Academy of Art (Calif.)'s Giulio Zanichelli, who tied for sixth at 4-under. They would advanced individually if the tournament ended after the second round.

Also in contention are: California State-Monterey Bay's Tommy Kimberling and Will Musson, who are tied for ninth at 3-under, while Garcia and UT Permian Basin's Sangha Park are tied for 13th at 2-under par.

Midwestern State junior Gatlin Goad (72-74) is tied for 35th with a 4-over 146, while junior Trevor Walsh (76-75) is tied for 72nd with a 9-over 151.

Sophomore Seth Bearden fired scores of 77 and 76 in the first two rounds and is tied for 86th place with an 11-over total of 153.

West Texas A&M (284-279) tops the team leader board with a 5-under total of 563 and leads hard-charging Colorado Christian (564/-4) by one stroke after the Cougars fired the low score in the second round with a 12-under 272.

Colorado Mesa and Western New Mexico are tied for fourth with a 2-under, 36-hole team total of 566, while Oklahoma Christian holds down the fifth spot with a 1-under 567.

Wardrup is in a three-way tie at the top of the individual leader board with Colorado Christian's Adam Duncan and Oklahoma Christian's Leandro Mihaich -- all with 6-under totals of 136.
 

NCAA Division II South Central/West Super Regional

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	West Texas A&M	-5	284	279	---	563
2	Colorado Christian	-4	292	272	---	564
3	Colorado Mesa	-2	285	281	---	566
	Western New Mexico	-2	277	289	---	566
5	Oklahoma Christian	-1	281	286	---	567
6	California State, Monterey Bay	+3	288	283	---	571
7	Dallas Baptist	+11	288	291	---	579
8	Sonoma State (Calif.)	+13	296	285	---	581
9	Midwestern State	+15	295	288	---	583
10	Chico State (Calif.)	+19	290	297	---	587
11	Simon Fraser (B.C.)	+20	292	296	---	588
12	California State, San Bernardino	+21	295	294	---	589
	UT Permian Basin	+21	297	292	---	589
14	California State, San Marcos	+22	296	294	---	590
15	Colorado State-Pueblo	+23	298	293	---	591
16	Hawaii-Hilo	+24	295	297	---	592
17	California State-East Bay	+25	296	297	---	593
18	Western Washington	+28	298	298	---	596
19	UT Tyler	+32	303	297	---	600
	Stanislaus State (Calif.)	+32	301	299	---	600

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Adam Duncan	Colorado Christian	-6	70	66	--	136
	Leandro Mihaich	Oklahoma Christian	-6	69	67	--	136
	Chris Wardrup	California State, San Bernardino	-6	67	69	--	136
4	Dylan Arthur	Colorado Christian	-5	72	65	--	137
	Arnav Arkanath	Western New Mexico	-5	68	69	--	137
6	Wyatt Provence	West Texas A&M	-4	71	67	--	138
	Giulio Zanichelli†	Academy of Art	-4	68	70	--	138
	Joey Geary	Western New Mexico	-4	65	73	--	138
9	Timmy Cavarno	Colorado Mesa	-3	72	67	--	139
	Luis Palomo	West Texas A&M	-3	71	68	--	139
	Tommy Kimberling	California State, Monterey Bay	-3	71	68	--	139
	Will Musson	California State, Monterey Bay	-3	68	71	--	139

 

Midwestern State Scorecards

10	Midwestern State	+15	295	288	---	583
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T13	Robert Garcia (2)	-2	70	70	--	140
T35	Gatlin Goad (4)	+4	72	74	--	146
T54	Keaton Dickens (3)	+6	79	69	--	148
T72	Trevor Walsh (5)	+9	76	75	--	151
T86	Seth Bearden (1)	+11	77	76	--	153