HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Henderson State, a regular atop the leaderboard at the Great American Conference Men’s Golf Championships, grabbed the opening round lead but its closest competitor, Northwestern Oklahoma State, produced the biggest surprise on Sunday at the Hot Springs Country Club - Arlington Course.
The Rangers, who have never finished higher than ninth in their previous GAC Championships, shot a 3-over par 291, the program’s best round at the GAC Championships by 17 shots. They finished Sunday just two shots behind Henderson State and ahead of nationally-ranked foes Arkansas Tech (14) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (38) as well as two additional schools, Harding and Southwestern Oklahoma State, ranked in the top nine of the most recent NCAA Division II Central Region rankings.
Three players - Parker Rehorn, Tyler Berryhill and Cole Ward - shot even par for Northwestern Oklahoma State to share fifth place on the individual leaderboard. Keiton Hoster finished as the fourth scoring member of the Rangers he posted a 3-over par 75.
Freshman Trey DePriest paced the Reddies with a 5-under 67 that featured eight birdies over his final 15 holes. After starting 3-over after just three holes, he got his round back to even par with three consecutive birdies, starting on the fourth hole. He also finished his round with three straight birdies to give him his first round in the 60’s as a Reddie. Mitchell Ford, Cameron McRae and Nick Shapiro carded matching 2-over 74s as the Reddies finished with a team score of 289, 1-over par.
The Wonder Boys will join the Reddies and Rangers in the Monday’s final group after they shot 5-over par. Austin Gean continued his stellar week of play with a 2-under 70 to share second place. On Tuesday, Gean tied for first at the Natural State Classic. Luke Cornett, an All-GAC First-Team selection, balanced two birdies against a double bogey for an even-par round.
The Savage Storm, Bulldogs and Arkansas-Monticello all tied for fourth, five shots behind Arkansas Tech. Zach James, the GAC Player of the Year opened with a pair of birdies on the front nine, but a bogey on the 16
th hole left him at 1-under par and in fourth place. Hayden Foster, the Savage Storm’s second First-Team All-GAC carded three early birdies but could not sustain the hot start as he finished in 15
th at 2-over.
SWOSU’s Kason Cook tallied six birdies en route to shooting a 2-under 70 to close the day in fourth. UAM had its top three golfers - Wilson Powell, Kinley Lee and Stephane Perrin - shoot matching 1-over par rounds to make up half of the six-way tie for ninth.
Oklahoma Baptist finished in seventh, but just one shot in back of the three-way logjam for fourth with Harding, Southern Arkansas and Southern Nazarene rounding out the team scoring. The Bison’s Hudson Hoover, Harding’s Mason Banger and the Crimson Storm’s Jacob Prentice all produced rounds of 1-over par.
Monday’s second round begins at 7:30 a.m. with the members of the Muleriders and Crimson Storm teeing off first.