Warriors Increase Lead With One Round Left in National Tourney

Newton, KS -- A solid third round has the Indian Hills golf team poised to repeat as NJCAA Division I national champions.  The Warriors -- with a 882 total --  will take an eight-shot lead into Friday's final round after posting a 296 score Thursday. 

Sophomores Jon Paul Blampied and Monty Lack led the way for IHCC with one-over par 73s.  Blampied is at even-par for the tourney and is locked in a three-way tie for fourth place.  Lack's round represented a nine-stroke improvement over his round the previous day.

Western Texas CC is in second place, eight shots behind Indian Hills and Meridian CC is two strokes behind the Texans.  WTCC started the day just one shot off the lead and stayed in second place despite a round of 303.

"We're not going to worry about Western Texas," said IHCC coach Mike Hagen, "and we're not going to worry about Meridian.  The only thing we're focused on is  Indian Hills."

The team that really hurts its tital chances in the 3rd round was Midland (TX) College.  They began the round just two shots in back of IHCC, but skied to a 315 total, putting them 21 strokes behind the Warriors.

Indian Hills freshman Ben Ludlam is looking for a good closing round to stay in the hunt for the individual medalist title.  He fired a 75 in the 3rd round and is tied for 8th-place at 218.  Teammate William White carded his third straight 75 and is tied for 24th.

The individual race is tight with the top 10 players all within five strokes of each other.

The Warriors will tee off at 12:45 Friday afternoon.

NJCAA Division I National Championship

Team Scores (top ten)

1. Indian Hills 292-294-296=882; 2. Western Texas CC 292-295-303=890; 3. Meridian CC 299-296-297=892; 4. Odessa College 297-292-306=895; 5. Darton CC 300-295-304=899; T. 6 McLennan CC 299-292-312=903; T.6 Midland College 292-296-315=903; 8. New Mexico JC 304-294-308=906; 9. Central Alabama CC 305-285-318=908; T10. Brevard CC 302-2998-310=910; T10. Dodge City CC 308-296-306=910

Indian Hills Scores

T4. Jon Paul Blampied 67-76-73=216; T8. Ben Ludlam 73-70-75=218; T24. William White 75-75-75=225; T27. Mitch Tucker 77-73-76=226; T58. Monty Lack 77-82-73=232