The Cyclones Are Dancing Again

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State men's golf is back in NCAA postseason play for the fifth time in the last seven seasons. The Cyclones earned the No. 10 seed in the NCAA Stockton Regional, May 14-16, announced this afternoon on the Golf Channel.

The Cyclones, ranked 54^th nationally by Golfweek, made an incredible resurgence in the spring, climbing over 30 spots in the national polls to keep their season alive. ISU finished the regular season by winning two of their last four tournaments, including a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship last week.

ISU knocked off No. 11 Baylor, No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 32 TCU and No. 41 Kansas at the conference tournament en route to its second-best finish in Big 12 history.

The Cyclones are one of eight Big 12 teams to advance to NCAA postseason play.

The NCAA Stockton Regional will be hosted by Pacific at the Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, Calif. The top five teams in the six regionals will qualify for the NCAA Championship, May 25-30 in Stillwater, Okla. Iowa State qualified for the NCAA finals in 2014 and 2017, finishing 18^th at the NCAA Championship last season.

The Cyclones have had a team or individual qualify for the NCAA Regionals in each of the last seven seasons. Scott Fernandez (2013) and Nick Voke (2016) were recent NCAA individual qualifiers. This marks the 11^th NCAA Regional appearance in Cyclone history: 1991-92, 1995-97, 1999, 2012, 2014-15, 2017-18.

Iowa State head men's golf coach Andrew Tank, now in his eighth season as the Cyclone leader, has elevated the Cyclones into a national player with a pair of NCAA Championship appearances in the last four seasons.

The Cyclones lost two of their best players in school history to graduation in Nick Voke and Ruben Sondjaja. Replacing the duo proved difficult. However, the Cyclones regrouped with outstanding play beginning in February to continue their season.

"It's possibly as rewarding of an accomplishment I have had as a coach," Tank said about his group claiming another regional berth. "To be able to accomplish this with a mediocre start to our season says a lot about our team. We really rallied together, and the guys deserve all the credit for sticking with it. We had a good talk as a team on where we needed to go, and what it would take to get there. They put in the work and that's why we are celebrating another postseason today."

ISU's steady climb was a team effort, but the undisputed team leaders throughout the season were senior Denzel Ieremia and freshman Lachlan Barker. Ieremia, who is ranked No. 114 nationally by Golfweek, is second on the team in stroke average (72.13) and has a team-high six top-10 finishes. His 12 career top-10 finishes ties for seventh in school history.

Barker is on pace to post the greatest freshman season in the history of the Cyclone program. The Willunga, Australia native has a team-low 72.07 stroke average and has five top-10 finishes.

Sophomore Sam Vincent, who is fourth on the team in stroke average (74.88), was sensational at the Big 12 Championship, tying for seventh to earn Big 12 All-Tournament accolades. He defeated eight players ranked in the top-100.

2018 NCAA Stockton Regional Participants- in order by seed
LSU, Alabama, Stanford, USC, Oregon, TCU, Colorado, Kansas, Kennesaw State, Iowa State, UNC Greensboro, UC Irvine, North Dakota State

Iowa State University Athletics

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