Oct. 9, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
As sophomores two years ago, Illinois State seniors Tommy Bliefnick and Joe Emerich set single-round records at the D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate, each posting a round of 7-under-par 63. The duo will look to recapture that magic as the Redbirds are set to host their only tournament of the year at the Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State. The two-day tournament will begin Sunday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
Men's golf head coach Ray Kralis is looking forward to hosting the tournament and hopes playing on its home course will give his team an advantage.
"The Weibring Golf Club is a place where we are obviously very comfortable," Kralis said. "The home team always has the edge no matter where you go. It has been a good spot for us and we need to do well at this tournament. We have 15 teams here and in the big picture of things there's a lot at stake for us, we have to defend our home turf."
Kralis will send out the same lineup that finished in fifth place at the Kansas Invitational two weeks ago. In addition to Bliefnick, senior Kyle Bragg, juniors Jeff Kellen and Will Cullen and sophomore Eric Meier will all compete for a chance to bring some hardware back to ISU.
Freshmen Matt Hageman, Ricky Hearden and Ryan Murphy will be making their collegiate debuts as they will be competing in the tournament as individuals along with Emerich and junior Drew North. Freshman Parker Freiburg will be the only member of the team not competing as he will be redshirted this year.
"We've been continuing to compete, we've had contributions from seven different guys in the line up so far this year," Kralis said. "The neat thing about this tournament is that everyone is getting a chance to play."
Illinois State will entertain five Missouri Valley rivals including Bradley, Creighton, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois. Other participating schools include, Butler, Detroit-Mercy, Eastern Illinois, Loyola Chicago, Loyola (Md.), Missouri - Kansas City, South Dakota State, SIU Edwardsville and Western Illinois.
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