Eagles Win Another State/Region Golf Title

By Rocky Higginbotham / sports editor
The Meridian Star
April 29, 2006

It’s been a championship kind of week at Meridian Community College. Three days after the school’s women’s tennis team captured a fourth straight MACJC State/NJCAA Region 23 Tournament title — coach Lou Hart’s golf squad did a little repeating of its own.

MCC blistered the field at Hillandale Country Club in Corinth earlier this week, shooting a season-low 8-under par 560 as a team to win yet another Division II state and region championship. Hart said it was the lowest team score recorded by an MCC team in the past 12 years. It also qualified the Eagles for the NJCAA national championship tournament set for May 23-26 at Scottsboro, Ala.

Meridian’s Dustin Petit was crowned the medalist and the MACJC Player of the Year after firing a two-day total of 7-under-par 135. Petit shot a 66 on the first day and was 2-under at 71 on the second day.

Teammates Justin Eaves, Jorday Hayden and Matt Ellis were all first-team all-state and all-region selections after picking up all-tournament honors, while Shane Parker was a second-team all-state selection. Eaves shot 69-72-141, while Hayden fired 70-71-141. Ellis, who on Friday signed with Southern Illinois, shot 73-72-145 and Parker shot 71-76-147.

Chase Williams of Northeast and Drew Goff of Gulf Coast rounded out the all-tourney team.

Last year, MCC won the state and region titles by 18 strokes. This time, the Eagles were 15 strokes better than their nearest competitors — arch-rival Gulf Coast.

The Bulldogs were second with a two-day total of 575, while Hinds was 46 shots back in third place with a 596. East Central Community College was fifth overall with a 297-305-602 score, while East Mississippi was 11th with 354-341-695. ECCC was led by Paul McMillian, who shot 74-71-145. Arick Ellis followed with 70-79-149; Jess Dilley shot 74-78-152; Colby Amis shot 79-77-156; and Tommy Harthcock shot 80-87-167. EMCC was led by Blake Smith’s 84-80-164. Chris Oubre shot 84-83-167; Brandon Bledledge shot 92-87-179; and Kyle Davis shot 94-91-185.

Southwest won the Division III state and region crowns.