No. 1 MGCCC hosts huge field
PERKINSTON — No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast plays its last fall event this week when it hosts the bigger and better MGCCC Fall Invitational at Windance Country Club in Saucier.
There will be 17 schools with a total of 96 players in the field. There will be six states represented with NAIA, NJCAA Division I and NJCAA Division II squads included.
This year's event has moved to 54 holes, which has helped entice a record turnout.
"We have not had a field this big before," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "It's a testament to how the golf tournament is run and the facilities at Windance. For a lot of these programs that are trying to get in a few last rounds here in late October, we're lucky with our weather to entice some teams to come down here."
The teams will play 54 holes on Monday, with the final round played Tuesday. Results will be available on Golfstat: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=28540.
Eight MACCC squads will be participating, including No. 5 Meridian and Northeast Mississippi, which is receiving votes in the Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Division II Coaches Poll. Murray State, from Oklahoma, is tied for 10th in the Division I poll.
Central Alabama, a traditional NJCAA Division I power, is receiving votes in that coaches poll.
Gulf Coast has won three straight tournaments. The Bulldogs will have Will Burnham (So., Jackson/Jackson Prep), Stanley Campbell (Fr., London, England/Essex Golf College), Peyton Russell (Fr., Gautier/Gautier), Andrew Zielinski (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) and John Mark Mills (Fr., Pontotoc/Mike Bender Golf Academy) on the A-team.
They will also have a B-team with Ludvig Behring (Fr., Sollentuna, Sweden/Osterakers Gymnasium), Kyle Davidson (So., Kyalami, South Africa/St. Peter's College), Mateo Jimenez (So., Diamondhead/Hancock), Garner Seymour (Fr., Biloxi/Biloxi) and Jackson Wise (So., Pontotoc/North Pontotoc).
"We're playing pretty well," Thornton said. "We're winding down at the end of the fall season. These guys have been playing a lot of golf. It's part of the grind, and it'll be the same thing in the spring. It's a long season. We want to finish strong here this week."
For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
