Josh McCollum attempts to bury a shot at the Western Washington Invitational in this archived photo. Image courtesy of Chico State Athletics
Josh McCollum attempts to bury a shot at the Western Washington Invitational in this archived photo. Image courtesy of Chico State Athletics

Chico places top ten in National Championship Preview

Connor Mcpherson // October 3, 2018

CCAA men’s golfer of the week Kelley Sullivan led the Wildcats to a seventh place finish in West Virginia, as the Wildcats get their first look at the national championship course. Sullivan finished in a tie for third overall, out of 90 golfers in total, and earned the golfer of the week title.

“It’s one of the few times we get to see those Eastern schools, and they are amongst the better teams,” Sullivan said about the tournament. “It’s nice to know that the Eastern schools are no different than us and I can play just as well as them.”

This tournament was the first chance for Chico State to see the national championship course, that they will play on at the end of the season, should they make it.

Chico finished 21 over par, which is better than average. However, with teams like Lynn and Barry finishing nine and 12 under par, Chico will need to lower their amount of strokes in order to win the Championship.

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Josh McCollum takes a shot at the Western Washington Invitational in this archived photo. Image courtesy of Chico State Athletics

This is especially because their next highest player, Christopher Colla, finished seven over par, and 32nd overall out of 90 in the field individually.

“I definitely think we have to have growth and consistency, and we need to practice the things we need to work on, and not just random things,” Sullivan said on Chico’s championship odds.

However, Chico did have a good start, to this season, finishing in the top half of an incredibly talented pool, with several great teams, including the defending champion Lynn, and current number one team Barry. Barry finished 12 under par, and Sullivan spoke very highly of their ability to play efficiently, and avoid errors.

“It’s pretty eye opening to see how few mistakes Barry makes.” Sullivan said. “And when they do make mistakes, it’s the right mistakes.”

Looking forward, Chico State will travel to Utah on October 15 and 16 to take part in the Division II West Region Preview, at Dixie State. Chico will need to continue to improve and play well in their next few tournaments, in order to try and win their first National Championship since 1966.

Connor McPherson can be reached at [email protected] or @theGOATMcphers1 on Twitter.

About the Contributor
Connor Mcpherson, Reporter
Connor McPherson is a junior at CSU Chico, who has an interest in sports and politics. He is a journalism major in his fourth year of school. When Connor is not writing for the paper, he is either watching some sports game, playing video games or biking.  He was born and raised in Moreno Valley, a city in southern California. However, he only goes for east coast teams, which he picked when he was 6, like the Mets, Wizards and Steelers. He hopes to be a sports journalist for one of his teams’ broadcast companies, such as SNY and NBC sportsnet Washington.