April 24, 2002

NICEVILLE, Fla. - The University of Denver men's golf team finished in second place today at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at Bluewater Bay Resort. The Pioneers shot a 2-over par 290 in the final round and moved from fifth place to third thanks to the best round of the day. South Alabama won the team title with a 54-hole total of 885, six strokes better than second place New Mexico State.

Denver's top finisher was junior Shawn Wills (Northglenn, Colo.), who closed with a 1-under par 71 to finish four strokes out of first place. Wills' 71 was tied for the best score in the field in the final round but was not enough to catch Jon Babich of New Mexico State, who shot a final round 73 for a 54-hole total of 213.

Next for Denver was junior Tommy Hart (Englewood, Colo.), who fired a final round 3-over par 75 and finished tied for 13th and freshman Barrett Jarosch (Edmonton, Alberta), who shot a 71 today that tied the low round of the field and finished tied for 18th.

Defending individual champion Erik Billinger (Broomfield, Colo.) shot a final round 73 to finish tied for 28th.

The men's team will now wait word on a possible berth in the NCAA West Regional to be held in Albuquerque, N.M., May 16-18.

Sun Belt Conference Championships
Bluewater Bay Resort
Par: 72 Yardage: 6857

Fin.	Team	Scores
1	South Alabama	298	292	295	885	+21
2	New Mexico State	295	299	297	891	+27
3	DENVER	296	306	290	892	+28
4	Western Kentucky	299	300	300	899	+35
5	North Texas	301	298	301	900	+36
6	Arkansas-Little Rock	305	299	297	901	+37
7	Louisiana-Lafayette	309	296	301	906	+42
8	Arkansas State	303	301	307	911	+47
9	Middle Tennessee	313	298	305	916	+52
10	New Orleans	318	310	317	945	+81

DENVER SCORES
3	Denver, U. of	296	306	290	892	+28
2	Shawn Wills	73	73	71	217	+1
T13	Tommy Hart	72	76	75	223	+7
T18	Barrett Jarosch	74	79	71	224	+8
T28	Tony Giarratano	77	78	76	231	+15
T28	Erik Billinger	78	80	73	231	+15
...PIONEERS...