May 5, 2008

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 19 Wake Forest men's golf team will return to a familiar postseason site as the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio.

The regional will take place May 15-17.

"It's a difficult course. It'll be a good test for us," Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas said. "There are no weak teams here. Ohio State is the 19-seed in the regional and they're playing on their home course, so you can throw that seed out."

Twenty seven teams will play Ohio State's Scarlet Course, which has witnessed five Deacon NCAA Championship appearances and a Wake Forest national championship in 1975.

No. 1 Alabama, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Florida, No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 23 Indiana, No. 25 Louisville and No. 27 Lamar will join Wake and 17 other schools to compete for a spot in the NCAA Championship.

"It's going to take some solid golf and a lot of patience to get to the next round," Haas said. "We're excited about it; we're always excited about the postseason. The guys are ready to go with exams being over and they're just ready to play some golf."

Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals at Purdue's Kampen Course, May 28-31.

Wake has now qualified for the NCAA Regional nine consecutive seasons and has been selected 19 times since the championships went to a regional format in 1989.

The last Deacon squad to see the Scarlet Course was the 2001 version which garnered an individual medalist (Brett Wanner) and a second-place team finish at the NCAA Fall Preview in Columbus.

The Deacs and the Yellow Jackets are the only two ACC schools in the central regional. Wake (-16) was one stroke back of Georgia Tech (-17) at the ACC Championship two weeks ago.

Wake has advanced to the NCAA Championship three consecutive seasons and 13 times since 1991.

Senior Chris McCartin led the Deacs in last season's West Regional in Tempe, Ariz. as he finished in seventh place. Wake finished ninth and went to Williamsburg, Va. for the NCAA Championship one year ago.

Prior to last season's West Regional, the Deacs boasted their best regional finishes, back-to-back championships in 2005 and 2006. Both victories came in the East Regional and are the lone regional wins for the Deacs in program history.

Listed below are the teams and individuals selected to participate in the championships. Teams winning automatic qualification are designated by their conferences in parentheses.

EAST REGIONAL
Council Fire Golf Club - Chattanooga, Tennessee
Hosted by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Georgia
2. Charlotte (Atlantic 10 Conference)
3. South Carolina
4. Duke
5. Chattanooga (Southern Conference)
6. Auburn
7. East Tennessee State
8. Michigan State (Big Ten Conference)
9. Mississippi
10. UAB (Conference USA)
11. Virginia Tech
12. North Carolina State
13. Mississippi State
14. Georgia State (Colonial Athletic Conference)
15. North Florida (Atlantic Sun Conference)
16. UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
17. Augusta State
18. SMU
19. Middle Tennessee
20. Coastal Carolina (Big South Conference)
21. Memphis
22. Virginia
23. Western Carolina
24. Colorado State (Mountain West Conference)
25. New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)
26. Western Illinois (The Summit League)
27. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)

Individuals:
1. Keegan Bradley, St. John's (New York)
2. Jose Toledo, New Orleans
3. Johnny Caldwell, South Alabama
4. Michael McGrady, Troy
5. Jon Curran, Vanderbilt
6. Grant Leaver, Austin Peay State

CENTRAL REGIONAL
Scarlet Golf Course - Columbus, Ohio
Hosted by The Ohio State University
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Alabama (Southeastern Conference)
2. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
3. Georgia Tech
4. Florida
5. Tennessee
6. Lamar (Southland Conference)
7. Wake Forest
8. Indiana
9. Texas A&M
10. Louisville
11. Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference)
12. Kent State
13. Penn State
14. Arkansas
15. Michigan
16. TCU
17. Texas-Arlington
18. Illinois
19. Ohio State
20. Baylor
21. Colorado
22. Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley Conference)
23. Marquette (Big East Conference)
24. Eastern Michigan (Mid-American Conference)
25. Cleveland State (Horizon League)
26. Loyola (Maryland) (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
27. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)

Individuals:
1. Chris Baker, Iowa State
2. Clayton Rask, Minnesota
3. Josh Sandman, Notre Dame
4. Victor Almstrom, Minnesota
5. Brent Long, Western Kentucky
6. Jordan Weber, Northern Iowa

WEST REGIONAL
Gold Mountain Golf Club - Bremerton, Washington
Hosted by University of Washington
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Southern California
2. UCLA
3. Florida State (Atlantic Coast Conference)
4. Stanford
5. Clemson
6. UNLV
7. North Carolina
8. Texas Tech
9. Central Florida
10. Arizona State (Pacific-10 Conference)
11. San Diego State
12. Texas
13. LSU
14. Oregon State
15. Pepperdine
16. Oregon
17. California
18. St. Mary's (California)
19. Kentucky
20. Wisconsin
21. Washington
22. Oklahoma
23. Kansas State
24. San Diego (West Coast Conference)
25. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
26. Navy (The Patriot League)
27. Columbia (Ivy Group)

Individuals:
1. Troy Merritt, Boise State
2. Brian Locke, Loyola Marymount
3. Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona
4. Jason D'Amore, Loyola Marymount
5. Nathan Stamey, North Carolina-Greensboro
6. Jimmy Lytle, Elon