April 11, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Coming off a second-place team finish at the Branson Creek Invitational, the Illinois State men's golf team will head to Urbana, Ill., and the par-72, 6,873 yard Stone Creek Golf Club, to compete in the Fighting Illini Spring Classic Saturday-Sunday, April 12-13. The 11-team, 54-hole event marks the first regular-season event hosted by Illinois since 1987, as well as ISU's final tune-up before the conference tournament.
The Redbirds, who have posted back-to-back top-five team finishes at both the Branson Creek Invitational (March 31- April 1) and the ASU Indian Classic (April 7-8), are looking for their first victory of the season. Head coach Ray Kralis feels his team is on the cusp of earning its first win.
"I could not be happier with the way our guys have performed these past few weeks," Kralis said. "Everyone has been stepping up, taking care of the things they can control. We played well enough to win in Arkansas, so I am confident we will continue our strong play through to the conference tournament."
Competing for Illinois State will be junior Ben Murphy, sophomores Tommy Bliefnick, Drew Miller, Kyle Bragg and freshman Jeff Kellen. Murphy earned a fifth-place tie at the ASU Indian Classic and fired a 9-under-par 207 (69, 69, 69), while Bliefnick carded a 6-under-par 210 (69, 69, 72) on his way to an 11th-place tie. Bliefnick is also second on the team with a 74.1 per-round-scoring average.
"Tommy and Ben have been great for us these past two weeks, but I cannot say enough about the team efforts we have been getting from top-to-bottom," noted Kralis. "As much as we struggled in the fall, it is great to see the guys finally put it together at such a key time."
ISU will be joined at Stone Creek by fellow Illinois schools Bradley, DePaul, Eastern Illinois, Loyola Chicago, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and host Illinois. Three other teams will also make the trip to central Illinois as the tournament field is rounded out by Northern Iowa, Detroit Mercy and IUPUI.
Tee times are scheduled for 9 a.m. shotgun starts both days. The first 36 holes will be played Saturday with the final round Sunday.
