Third ranked Eagles open Spring Season at Rock Creek

MCC to play in Faulkner State Invite

Fairhope, Ala. - The 3rd-ranked Meridian Community College men's golf team travels to Fairhope, Ala., for the 2011 Faulkner State Spring Invitational held Monday through Tuesday at the par-72 Rock Creek Golf Club.

Meridian, Miss. native, Easton Key, a freshman from Lamar, will lead the Eagles in the No. 1 position for the spring season opener. Key was named all tournament team three times in the fall and also shot the school record low score of 65 (-7).

Sophomore Brandt Garon will play in the No. 2 position for MCC. The Baton Rouge, La. native continued his stellar career in the fall earning medalist honors at the Wallace State Fall Invitational and the NJCAA District IV Preview. The defending national champion has won four tournament titles during his two-year MCC career.

Freshman Jake Stirling will also be in the Eagles line-up this week. The Victoria, Australia native, who won one medalist tile along with three all tournament team honors this past fall, will play in the No. 3 spot for MCC.

Garon (71.9), Stirling (72.4) and Key (72.4) led the NJCAA Region 23 in scoring average this fall. As a team, the Eagles per round fall average of 289.4 was nearly four strokes lower than their average last season where MCC claimed national championship runner-up.

Sophomore Adam Monsen returns to Rock Creek seeking to defend his medalist title. Last season Monsen, then a freshman for MCC, won the tournament in a playoff over Central Alabama’s Barrett Milam. The San Antonio, Texas native will play in the No. 4 spot for MCC.

Freshman Alex Grannon, from Kiln, Miss. rounds out the Eagles line-up in the No. 5 spot. This week marks Grannon’s third consecutive start for the Eagles.

"We're ready to get the season back up and running," said fifth year MCC head golf coach Sean Covich.

"The guys are ready to get started and put some solid rounds together. There is some good competition here."

Competing in the Faulkner State Spring Invitational are four of the top-10 NJCAA Division I men’s golf teams: No. 2 Brevard (FL) Community College, No. 3 MCC, No. 6 Central Alabama Community College and No. 9 Wallace State (AL) Community College. Also playing is host-school Faulkner State Community College, former MACJC-rival Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is scheduled to compete along with two university teams- the University of Mobile and the University of New Orleans.

Six individuals ranked in the top-25 participating include No. 1 Paul Harris of Central Alabama, No. 3 Brandt Garon of MCC, No. 12 Jared Burlesson of Faulkner State, No. t13 Easton Key of MCC, No. t13 Jake Stirling MCC, and No. 15 Deane Rikard of Wallace State.

Last season MCC claimed a top 5 finish at Rock Creek in the 2010 Faulkner State Spring Invitational.

Action gets underway at 8 am on Monday. The 36-hole event concludes on Tuesday afternoon.