Men's Golf Heads to NCAA West Regional at Washington National
May 12, 2003
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WHAT'S ON TAP: Oregon will be the 18th seed to the NCAA West Regional, which will be held Thursday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17 at the 7,183-yard, par-72 Washington National Course in Auburn, Wash. The University of Washington is the host institution. There are three regionals that will be held nationally May 15-17 (the other two are at Auburn and Kansas State). The top 10 teams from each regional, plus two individuals, will advance to the NCAA Championships, May 28-30 at Oklahoma State.
OREGON PROBABLE STARTERS
John Ellis Sr.-2V San Jose, Calif. (Gavilan CC) 71.6 Chris Carnahan Sr.-3V Albany, Ore. (West Albany HS) 73.2 Gregg LaVoie Fr.-HS Pasco, Wash. (Pasco HS) 74.1 Mike Sica Jr.-2V San Francisco, Calif. (St. Ignatius HS) 74.5 Kyle Johnson Fr.-RS North Bend, Ore. (North Bend HS) 74.7
OREGON IN THE NCAA REGIONAL: This is Oregon's seventh straight NCAA Regional appearance and 12th in the last 15 years. In their previous 11 appearances, the Ducks have advanced to the NCAA Championships three times, including back-to-back bids in 1998-99 under current coach Steve Nosler. Last year at New Mexico, Oregon finished tied for 13th, missing a trip to the national championships by three strokes. Nosler led Oregon to its best ever finish in regional competition back in 1999, when the Ducks, led by current PGA Tour member Ben Crane (the 2003 BellSouth champion), tied for fifth at 875. Crane notched the highest finish in a regional by an Oregon golfer the previous year when he tied for second at 207 in 1998. It will be the third NCAA Regional for Oregon's top golfer, John Ellis. His best regional finish came last year when he tied for 29th. This will be the fourth regional for senior captain Chris Carnahan, who is still looking for his first top 50 finish in regional action. It is the second regional for junior Mike Sica, while freshmen Kyle Johnson and Gregg LaVoie will make their postseason debuts.
Player 2000 2001 2002 Chris Carnahan 218/T52nd 227/T77th 227/T80th John Ellis --- 224/T49th 220/T29th Mike Sica --- DNC 228/T90th
Oregon in the NCAA West Regional
Year Place (score) Top Individual Place (score) 2002 T13th (885) Aaron Byers T8th (213) 2001 18th (902) John Ellis T49th (224) 2000 T13th (866) Andrew Tredway T35th (215) 1999 T5th (875) Ben Crane 12th (217)* 1998 6th (875) Ben Crane 2nd (207)* 1997 12th (877) Ben Crane T16th (215) 1995 --- Ted Snavely T49th (224) 1994 --- Ted Snavely T31st (219) 1993 15th (893) Jeff Lyons T45th (223) 1992 17th (881) Doug DuChateau T18th (214) 1991 12th (888) Troy Tamiya T4th (215) 1990 7th (859) Tim Hval T9th (210)* 1989 11th (881) Chris Holzgang T7th (213)* advanced to NCAA Championships
THE FIELD: Nine Pac-10 teams and 10 of the nation's top 30 (according to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings) will be in competition at Washington National. Here is the field, in order of seed (Golfweek/Sagarin rankings in parenthesis):
1. UCLA (11) 2. Nevada-Las Vegas (10) 3. Arizona (6) 4. Georgia (13) 5. Arizona State (16) 6. Washington (19) 7. New Mexico (17) 8. USC (29) 9. Pepperdine (25) 10. San Diego State (31) 11. California (39) 12. Fresno State (34) 13. UC Irvine (28) 14. Brigham Young (41) 15. Colorado State (46) 16. Texas-El Paso (38) 17. Denver (44) 18. Oregon (49) 19. Austin Peay 20. Stanford 21. Oregon State 22. Old Dominion 23. Xavier 24. Oral Roberts 25. Navy 26. Central Conn. State 27. Loyola (Md.)
Oregon will be paired with Texas-El Paso and Denver for the first two rounds. In round one, the Ducks will tee off No. 1 at 7:12 a.m. For the second round, Oregon will go off No. 10 at 11:51 a.m. Teams will be re-seeded for the final round.
FRESH FACES: This season, Oregon freshmen Gregg LaVoie, Kyle Johnson, Chirs Dukeminier and Justin St. Clair have accounted for 71 of Oregon's 204 rounds (34.8 percent). Only the seniors (John Ellis and Chris Carnahan) have played more rounds as a class (74). By comparison, no freshmen played for the Ducks last season, and in 2000-01, freshmen played just 28 rounds. The 71 freshmen rounds is the highest for Oregon since 1995-96 when Adrian Burtner, Ben Crane, Derek Croskrey and Andrew Tredway tallied 105 rounds. That may be a good sign for the future of the program; those four freshmen later led the Ducks to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 1998 and 1999.
HOMEGROWN TALENT: Dating back to Peter Jacobsen and continuing with Ben Crane, the success of Oregon's golf program has always been rooted in attracting top prep players from Oregon's high school ranks. That tradition continues for the 2002-03 season as five of the 11 players on the roster are state natives, including Chris Carnahan of Albany, Jimmy White and Chris Dukeminier from Eugene, Justin St. Clair of Springfield and Kyle Johnson of North Bend.
NOSLER NOTES: Now in his 11th year as head coach of the Ducks is Oregon graduate (1959) Steve Nosler. Nosler has guided the Ducks to the NCAA West Regional eight times (1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) and consecutive NCAA Championship appearances (1998 and 1999). This season, the Ducks have seven top-seven finishes, including a high of third at the Oregon Duck Invitational. Last year, the Duck won their own tournament as well as the Northwest Collegiate Classic. In 2000-01, Oregon won the Western Intercollegiate, took second at the Husky Invitational and claimed third at the Oregon Duck Invitational. He guided the Ducks to three tournament titles in 1998-99 and a third-place showing at the Pac-10's and a fifth at the NCAA West Regional. Highlighting the 1996-97 season was his being named Pacific-10 Conference coach of the year in a vote by his peers.
