CHICO, CA – Chris McConnell finished at 4-over for the tournament at the Cal State-Chico Invitational to lead the Montana State-Billings men to a ninth place team finish.  The junior from Lewistown, Mont., shot rounds of 72, 74 and 74 at the par-72 Butte Creek CC to finish in a tie for sixteenth place, only two shots out of the top 10.

The Yellowjackets finished with a 54-hole total of 903, three strokes behind Cal State-Chico and eight strokes back of Western Washington.  Cal State-Bakersfield captured the team title with an 866, followed by St. Martin's at 867 and Hawaii-Hilo at 874.  Shane Prante of St. Martin's won top individual honors with a 10-under 206, and A.J. Shiffert of Cal State-Stanislaus finished second with a 1-under 215.  They were the only to players to shoot under par for the tournament.

Chris Haas (Jr., Bozeman, MT) was the Yellowjackets' second-lowest scorer with an 11-over 227 for a 36^th place finish.  He shot rounds of 75, 74 and 78.  Zach Abels (Fr., Twin Falls, ID) finished with a 13-over 229, good for a tie for 42^nd place.

"I'm really proud of the guys," said Yellowjacket head coach Roger Burckley.  "We ended up just a few strokes behind Chico State and Western Washington, who were top ten teams last year.  I still feel we haven't hit our full potential, so we're looking forward to next week.  I think we're getting close to competing with some of these teams that are national powerhouses."

The Yellowjackets wrap up the fall season next Monday and Tuesday at the Cal State-Bakersfield Invitational.  

Team Standings
         1   CSU-Bakersfield                    285  290  291    866     
         2   St. Martin's College                290  287  290    867     
         3   Hawaii-Hilo, U. of                  287  286  301    874     
         4   CSU-Stanislaus                      291  295  291    877     
         5   UC San Diego                        291  298  298    887     
         6   Florida Gulf Coast U              297  297  297    891     
         7   Western Washington U           302  297  296    895     
         8   CSU-Chico                            298  302  300    900     
         9   Montana St-Billings                299  304  300    903     
        10   Chico St. (B)            305  298  306    909     
        11   CSU-Monterey Bay              297  304  309    910     
        12   Sonoma State U.                   292  319  300    911     
        13   Colorado-CO Springs           310  311  298    919      
Top 10 Individuals
      1    Shane Prante (SMC)                68   67   71   206
      2    A.J. Shiffert (CSUS)                 75   72   68   215
      3    D.J. Fernando (CSUB) 71   70   75   216
           Greg Lopez (CSUB)                 71   72   73   216
           Jared Bouchey (SMC)               72   73   71   216
           Mark Baker (CSUB)                 73   72   71   216
      7    Nick Mason (UHH)                 71   74   72   217
           Brian Duckworth (UCSD)         68   72   77   217
           Tysen Shinaut (UHH)                74   69   74   217
     10    Chris Massoletti (CSUC)         70   71   77   218
           Jeffrey Fowler (CSUC) 72   76   70   218

MSU Billings Men
      T 16    Chris McConnell                 72   74   74    220
      T 36    Chris Haas                          75   74   78    227
      T 42    Zach Abels                          76   80   73    229
      T 50    Bryan Barthelmesi               77   79   75    231
         54    Nicholas Larson                  76   77   80    233