No. 2 MGCCC aiming for district crown
PERKINSTON — No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast will be looking to even the score with No. 3 Meridian this weekend at the NJCAA District D Championship in Columbus.
The teams occupy lofty places in the Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Division II Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs and Eagles have won five tournaments where both have participated.
"Meridian and Gulf Coast are just nip and tuck," Gulf Coast coach Tommy Snell said. "They've won three tournaments, and we've won two. Maybe we'll tie it up at District.
The tournament, being hosted by East Mississippi, will be played at the 6,410-yard Lion Hills Golf Club. The Bulldogs headed up Thursday for a practice round and will do the same Saturday. The 36-hole event starts Saturday.
"We've played it before and had a lot of success on it," Snell said. "Their coach tells me it's in pretty good shape. They've redone the greens on the back nine. It's a course that suits our game."
Copiah-Lincoln and East Central are also in the field.
The top three teams will qualify for the NJCAA Division II Golf Championship at GlenLakes Golf Club in Foley, Ala., on May 21-24. Two individuals from non-qualifying teams will also advance, one based on MACJC regular-season and championship performance and one based on standings in this tournament.
Gulf Coast's five-person team will be Jackson Wedgeworth (So., West Jones/Soso), Brice Wilkinson (Fr. Madison Central/Madison), Colby Blake (So., Parklane/Tylertown), Colby Entriken (So., Hancock/Pass Christian) and Carter Nicholson (Fr., Pearl River Central/Carriere).
Wedgeworth clinched the Hubert Tucker Award for lowest scoring average this MACJC season at the state tournament.
"My guys are working hard," Snell said. "We had Wedge Wednesday yesterday, and they worked hard on it."
Live scoring will be available: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=15629
For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCAthletics on Twitter and BulldogLIVE on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
