Just three days before the start of the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship tournament, Cal State San Bernardino finds itself as the team to beat after being moved up to the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II West Region poll voted on by the NCAA championship committee.
The Coyotes, winners of four tournaments in 2008-09 and winners in three of their last four events, will tee it up on Monday on the first day of the CCAA tournament at Hunter Ranch Golf Club in Paso Robles, facing seven other teams. The 54-hole tournament concludes on Tuesday.
After spending most of the spring as the No. 2 team in the West, the Coyotes moved ahead of Sonoma State by finishing second in the Cal State Stanislaus-Hanny Invitational, eight shots ahead of the Seawolves.
SSU would like to return the favor at the CCAA tournament and are ranked No. 2 in the West Region followed by CCAA member Chico State, Western Washington, Hawaii-Hilo, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State Stanislaus, Grand Canyon, Dixie State and Saint Martin’s.
Five of the top 10 teams in the West are CCAA members.
CSUSB has been in contention for the CCAA title in recent years but has not come up a winner yet but the team has finished as high a second.
Senior Micah Burke leads the Coyotes and is coming off a solid outing at the Stanislaus tournament where he shot the low round of the day Tuesday — a 71 in blustery weather that included six birdies and an eagle. Burke finished eighth overall while teammate Joe Alldis was fifth after rounds of 69, 73 and 76,
The Coyotes were without one of their best players, Kenny Pigman, who won the Grand Canyon Thunderbird Invitational in late March with a 54-hole score of 205. The team is hoping Pigman will be back by Monday. If not, it appears freshman Nick Kelley will take his place.
Gene Webster Jr., a junior, leads the team with the lowest stroke average, 72.5.
After finishing 11th in the 2008-09 season opener in Blaine, Wash., the Coyotes have not finished worse than fourth in any tournament.
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