Bellinghamgolfer.com

Last week started badly for the Western Washington men's team when it finished a lowly fourth at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship at Coeur d'Alene, failing to win its seventh straight title. It ended on a much happier note though when three team members were named to the GNAC Men's All-Star team, and the NCAA announced the Vikings would be the No. 6 seed for the upcoming South Central/West Regional beginning Monday, May 5 in Austin, Texas.
The players selected for the GNAC All-Star team were junior Kyle Schrader and freshman Chris Hatch who made it into the first team, and Mark Strickland who was a second team pick.
Schrader had an encouraging season averaging 75.1 and finishing tied for second at the GNAC Championship. Hatch averaged 75.7 per round and finished T4 last week. Senior Craig Crawford would have made it into the First Team with ease with his 73.00 average, but he played in only the last four tournaments, finishing in the top-ten three times.
Strickland, meanwhile, had what for him was a slightly disappointing season, a year after breaking into the GNAC First Team and being named an NCAA PING West Region all-star. He averaged 75.6.
The junior from Mukilteo still has two tournaments at which to regain some form though - next week's NCAA South Central/West Regional at Grey Rock GC in Austin, Texas, and, hopefully, the subsequent NCAA Div II National Championship in Allendale, Mich. The top six teams from the 20-team Regional will adavance to Nationals.