EMCC - Athletics: Sports, News, Players, and Coaches. Go Lions! - East Mississippi CC collects second-place team finish in MACJC golf event played at MSU Golf Course

STARKVILLE – With three individuals finishing among the Top 10, the East Mississippi Community College men’s golf team claimed runner-up honors in this week’s MACJC event held Sunday and Monday at the Mississippi State University Golf Course.

Coach Dale Peay’s EMCC Lions held a slim 1-stroke lead (299-300) over Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College after Sunday’s opening round, but the four-time defending NJCAA Region 23 champions from Perkinston proved again why they are the elite golf program in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges. The Bulldogs improved 11 strokes with a final-round 289 to earn their 7-stroke victory over the host Lions. MGCCC has now claimed all four regular-season team titles this spring.

Shaving two strokes off its opening-round 299, EMCC was the lone school to record two sub-300 team scores in this week’s MACJC golf event. The Lions’ second-place showing marked their first runner-up team finish since last year’s MACJC State Championship held at Deerfield in Canton.

Northwest Mississippi Community College made a final-round charge with a 295 on Monday to edge Copiah-Lincoln Community College by two strokes (603-605) for third-place team honors. Jones County JC finished fifth among the 10-team field with a two-day total of 625 (320-305).

EMCC sophomore Weston Wallace couldn’t quite successfully defend his individual title from last year’s MSU-hosted MACJC event after owning a 1-shot lead heading into Monday’s final round. Wallace, a product of Northwest Rankin High School, followed an opening-round, even-par 71 with Monday’s 72 only to be nipped by Gulf Coast’s Marcus Fox, who fired a final-round 70 to claim the 1-stroke victory (142-143).

Joining Fox and Wallace on the all-tournament team were Mississippi Gulf Coast teammates Brad Thornton (74-71--145) and Jack Sargent (74-73--147) along with Hunter Hood from Copiah-Lincoln (74-74--148).

Also finishing among the Top 10 individually for the Lions were Nick Davis (76-74--150) and Andrew Spiers (75-75--150), who joined Co-Lin’s Justin Danise in a three-way tie for eighth place. EMCC sophomores Bobby Bowlin (80-74--154) and Tyler Slocum (77-77--154) as well as freshman Miles Respess (75-79--154) were among the five golfers who shared 14^th-place honors. Competing as an individual this week for the Lions, sophomore Zac Taylor, of Caledonia, rounded out EMCC’s scorecard with a two-day score of 156 (77-79).

The fifth and final MACJC golf event of the 2012 regular season will take place next week (April 2-3) and be divided between Southaven’s North Creek and Wedgewood in Olive Branch. The upcoming two-day tournament will be hosted by Northwest Mississippi Community College.