EMCC's Miles Respess adds 1-over 73 to stand in 22nd-place tie midway through NJCAA Division II Golf Championship
Midway through the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship, East Mississippi Community College sophomore Miles Respess stands in a tie for 22nd place following Wednesday's 1-over-par 73 at Goose Pond Colony Golf Course.
SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – Midway through the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship, East Mississippi Community College sophomore Miles Respess stands in a tie for 22nd place following Wednesday's 1-over-par 73 at Goose Pond Colony Golf Course.
Tied with seven other golfers at the No. 22 spot among the 122-player field with a two-day total of 145, Respess had four birdies and five bogies during Wednesday's second round of the four-day tournament. The Paragould, Ark., native fired an even-par 72 en route to a 19th-place tie following Tuesday's opening round.
Trailing only the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College tandem of Jake Pritchard (70-73—143) and Hayes Weathersby (72-71—143) among the 10 MACJC participants competing in this week's national tournament, Respess is currently tied with Copiah-Lincoln's Corbin May, who claimed both the NJCAA Region 23 and MACJC State titles this spring. The MACJC's stroke average leader this year, May struggled somewhat with a second-round 76 after sitting in a second-place tie following Tuesday's 3-under-par 69.
Individually, David Keenan, of Parkland (Ill.) College, maintains his lead at the halfway mark of the tournament with a 3-stroke advantage (136-139) over Brandon Hoelzer, from Owens (Ohio) Community College.
On the team leaderboard, reigning NJCAA Division II Champion South Mountain (Ariz.) Community College lengthened its lead by totaling 281 on Wednesday to give the Cougars a 12-stroke cushion (565-577) over current runner-up Walters State (Tenn.) Community College. The MGCCC Bulldogs, six-time reigning NJCAA Region 23 champions, enter Thursday's third round in sixth place with a two-day score of 587 (+11).
Third-round tee times begin at 7 a.m. Thursday and continue through the final group teeing off at 1 p.m. Playing with Co-Lin's May and Chad Cupples (73-73—146; T-30th), of Northwest Mississippi, EMCC's Respess is slated for an 11:57 a.m. tee time Thursday.
With a four-star rating by Golf Digest magazine, Goose Pond Colony is a George Cobb-designed course that sits on the banks of the Tennessee River's Lake Guntersville and nestled into the Cumberland Mountains. The par-72 layout is playing 7,145 yards to a rating of 73.1, slope 129. Daily results from this week's national tournament are available online at http://www.mccaa.org/f/0/3/Golf/2013_Golf_Nationals.php.
NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship Second-Round Results