ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Western Washington University men's golf team saw its historic 2018-19 season come to a close on Saturday, unable to climb the leaderboard in the final round of the NCAA Division II West/South Central Super Regional played at The Ledges Golf Club.
 
Starting the final round in 9^th place, the Vikings knew they would have to record a low round to move into the top four to advance to nationals. WWU ended up dropping in the 20-team field to finish in 16^thplace with a 8-over-par 296 team score. The Vikings completed the 54-hole, three-round tournament at 17-over-par 881.
 
Playing in its 21^st consecutive NCAA II Regional Championships, WWU entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West Region and ranked No. 4 nationally. The Vikings won six of 11 tournaments during the 2018-19 season, the second-most wins in program history, and won a ninth Great Northwest Athletic Conference team title.
 
"This happens a lot in golf…where the team wanted it so bad and you try so hard, but golf doesn't work that way," said head coach Luke Bennett. "The team had a great season and my three seniors were a huge part of that. I can't thank Nick (Sparling), Cody (Roth) and Michael (Butler) enough for all they did for this program."
 
Senior Nick Sparling (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman/Ohio State) led the Vikings at 2-over-par 218 for the tournament to tie for 38^th-place. Sparling fired a final-round score of 1-over-par 73, to go with a matching 73 in the first round and even-par 72 in the second round. Sparling recorded a team-best 10 birdies in the tournament, to go along with 33 pars.
 
Senior Cody Roth (Bellingham, WA) finished in a tie for 42^nd at 3-over-par 219, firing a final-round 2-over-par 74.
 
Sophomore Brody Bonfilio (Boise, ID/Bishop Kelly) tied for 53^rd at 5-over-par 221 and freshman Jordan Lee (Tacoma, WA/Bellarmine Prep) tied for 66^th at 7-over-par 223.
 
Tournament host Dixie State led from wire-to-wire to win the regional championship with a team score of 17-under-par 847, which included a final round 6-under-par 282. UC San Diego recorded the lowest round team score in the tournament at 13-under-par 275 on Saturday, moving up to 2^nd place to punch its ticket to nationals (-13, 851). Cal State Monterey Bay (-3, 861) and Sonoma State (-2, 862) recorded the third and fourth qualifying spots for the NCAA II Championships that will be played May 20-24 at The Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, West Virginia.
 
Colorado Christian junior Chase Carlson (Tacoma, WA/Puyallup) recorded a one-stroke victory for individual medalist honors at 12-under-par 204. Carlson fired a final-round score of 3-under-par 69 to edge UC San Diego's Hayden Hui (-11, 205). 
  Here is a look at the final NCAA II West/South Central Super Regional leaderboard and WWU's individual results.
 

2019 NCAA II West/South Central Regional Championships The Ledges Golf Club  »  St. George, Utah Par 72  »  7,145 Yards
Pos.	Team/Player	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
16th	Western Washington	+17	295	290	296	881
T38	Nick Sparling	+2	73	72	73	218
T42	Cody Roth	+3	72	73	74	219
T53	Brody Bonfilio	+5	75	71	75	221
T66	Jordan Lee	+7	75	74	74	223
106	Ethan Casto	+23	83	81	75	239
Pos.	Team	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1.	Dixie State	-17	283	282	282	847
2.	UC San Diego	-13	287	289	275	851
3.	Cal State Monterey Bay	-3	300	279	282	861
4.	Sonoma State	-2	287	290	285	862
5.	Midwestern State	-1	293	281	289	863
6.	Chico State	+2	299	289	278	866
7.	St. Edward's	+3	290	291	286	867
8.	Oklahoma Christian	+6	293	296	281	870
	Stanislaus State	+6	304	284	282	870
10.	Western New Mexico	+8	291	286	295	872
11.	Colorado Mesa	+9	304	283	286	873
12.	St. Mary's (TX)	+12	303	290	283	876
	Simon Fraser	+12	296	287	293	876
	Colorado School of Mines	+12	299	288	289	876
15.	Concordia (OR)	+16	303	286	291	880
16.	Western Washington	+17	295	290	296	881
17.	Arkansas - Fort Smith	+20	298	298	288	884
18.	Cal State East Bay	+25	291	298	300	889
19.	Lubbock Christian	+36	311	294	295	900
20.	Holy Names	+44	302	307	299	908

                                                            The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 21 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, including a 3^rd-place finish at the 2013 national championship. The program has produced 17 All-Americans and has won 9 of 12 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008, including the 2019 title. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 8 of 12 tournaments, including 2018 champion Ethan Casto and 2019 champion Brody Bonfilio.