Courtesy Hutchinson CC Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Powered by under-par rounds from Charlie Box, Marco Anderson and Keaton Thissen, the Hutchinson Community College men's golf team are in second place after two round of the NJCAA Central District/Region VI Championship at Tiffany Greens Golf Club.
The No. 5-ranked Blue Dragons trail No. 3 Indian Hills by 15 strokes heading into Tuesday's final round, which tees off at 8:45 a.m. in a shotgun start. The Blue Dragons have a six-stroke lead for the Region VI lead over Dodge City.
Hutchinson also has a 33-stroke cushion to finish in the top 5 and automatically qualify for the NJCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships in three weeks in Hobbs, New Mexico. The Blue Dragons are bidding for their 23rd consecutive bid to the national tournament.
The Dragons had rounds of 3-over 291 and 2-over 290 to card a 36-hole team score of 581. Indian Hills is at 566 (283-283) in Monday's two rounds. Dodge City is third at 587 (297-290). Iowa Western and Barton are tied for fourth at 600 and Garden City is sixth at 614.
Box shot a 1-under 71 to lead the Blue Dragons in Monday's first round. The Dragons also counted scores from Louis Ross (72), David Razinskas (73) and Anderson (75).
Anderson and Thissen both shot 71s in the afternoon round to lead the Blue Dragons led the Dragons in the afternoon round with a pair of 71s. The Dragons also counted scored from Box (74) and Razinskas (74).
Individually, the Blue Dragons have to players in the Top 10 and four in the Top 15.
Box is tied for fifth in the district standings at 145. Box is 11 shots off the lead of Indian Hills' Jose Carletta, who had back-to-back 67s to lead with a 134. Box is second in the Region standings. Box trails Dodge City's Arthit Kruaprayong by three strokes in the Region 6 standings.
Anderson had a rough start to the day, playing the first five holes of his opening round at 4-over par. But the sophomore played the rest of the opening round in 1-under par to close at 75 and had a 71 in the afternoon round and is tied for seventh at 146 and is tied for fourth in the regional standings.
Razinskas and Ross are tied for 12th in the district standings and tied for eighth in the regional standings.
Thissen is tied for 23rd at 151 (80-71).
Individual player Brooks Sauder is 59th with a 36-hole score of 171 (90-81).