Hutchinson CC Sports Information
NEWTON – The "streak" is alive and well for the Hutchinson Community College men's golf team.
After an up-and-down Jayhawk Conference season, the Blue Dragons' streak of qualifying for the NJCAA National Tournament was in a bit of jeopardy.
The Blue Dragons locked up an 18th-consecutive trip to nationals on Tuesday with a fourth-place showing at the NJCAA District III Championship at Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
FINAL DISTRICT III TEAM SCORES
FINAL DISTRICT III INDIVIDUAL SCORES
The Dragons shot a final round 3-over 291 to secure the championship tournament appearance with a fourth-place showing. Hutchinson's 54-hole total of 872, 19 strokes better than fifth-place Barton. The top four teams from District III qualified for the 2018 NJCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas in May.
No. 1-ranked Indian Hills ran away from the tournament with a 39-under score of 825. Indian Hills finished Tuesday with a 20-under 268. District runner-up Dodge City shot 4-under 280 on Tuesday and finished at 852. Iowa Western was third at 861. Dodge City repeated as Region VI champion and the Blue Dragons were second in the Region VI standings.
Sophomore Doug Rios-Ceballos led the Blue Dragons once again as the sophomore shot a 1-under 71 on Tuesday. Other scores to count for the Blue Dragons were Cole Gritton's and Matt Percy's 73s and Andrew Rios-Ceballos' 74.
Doug Rios-Ceballos finished seventh overall with a 54-hole score of 2-under 214. He had two rounds under par and one round even par. Finishing third among Region VI teams, Rios-Ceballos was first-team All-Region.
Gritton tied for 12th in the district standings at 2-over 218. Gritton opened the tournament with a season-low 70 in the opening round on Monday. Gritton placed sixth in the Region VI standings and earned second-team all-District honors.
Andrew Rios-Ceballos tied for 18th in the district and ninth in the region at 219. He was also second-team all-region.
Percy tied for 22nd at 223.
Max Smith tied for 31st at 232 after a final-round 78 on Tuesday. Individual player Lake Leroux tied for 29th at 231 after a 75 on Tuesday.
Indian Hills' Julian Sale won the district individual championship with a 14-under score of 202. Sale shot rounds of 65, 70 and 67.