COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – Preparing for its most important tournament of the 2018-19 school year, the Montana State University Billings men's golf team will kick off the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Monday at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course.
 
Tee times are set to begin at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time/8:30 a.m. Mountain time Monday morning, with 30 total golfers representing the six conference teams. Live scoring will be available throughout the three-round event through the Golf Stat link online here.
 
"The guys are starting to see some good results, and are playing their best golf of the spring," said MSUB head coach Jeff Allen. "They have worked hard, so it will be fun to see what they can do on this golf course. Three of our guys are returners to this event, so they are familiar with the course and how to play it. It is time to trust that hard work and just go out and play."
 
The Yellowjackets will play on a par-71, 6,803-yard course layout. The first two rounds will be played on Monday, with the third and final round following Tuesday morning. View a hole-by-hole map of the Coeur d'Alene Resort online here.
 
MSUB enters Monday's tournament with a team scoring average of 307.2 strokes per round, ranking sixth in the conference. The team's top four-player round on the season was a 286 on October 1 at the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bear Invitational, and their three-round mark of 864 at that event held at Peter Yegen Golf Club in Billings was also their top of the season.
 
Junior Garrett Woodin will lead the Yellowjackets into the tournament, as both their top player so far in 2018-19 and their most experienced when it comes to the conference tournament. He will tee off at 8:14 a.m. on Monday morning, and is paired with Henry Bernard of Northwest Nazarene University and Tyler Fitchett of Saint Martin's University.
 
Woodin is averaging 75.4 strokes per round on the year, and has played in all 25 rounds for MSUB. His seven individual rounds at par or better lead the team, and he has had one top-five finish this season.
 
The Billings native tied for fourth place at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational, on September 10-11 at Lake Hills Golf Club in his hometown. He shot a three-round score of 215 (71-72-72), which is his career best. Woodin matched that mark in his most recent outing, notching another 215 (74-72-69) at the Western New Mexico University Mustang Spring Invitational two weeks ago in Arizona. He enters this week's championships coming off his best single round of the year with a 3-under-par 69 to close out his most recent tournament.
 
This will be Woodin's third time playing the CDA Resort course in the championship format, and he is the only Yellowjacket to have played it multiple times. He shot a 231 as a freshman in 2017, and matched the figure last year with an identical score.
   

GARRETT WOODIN - JUNIOR	YEAR	R1	R2	R3	TOTAL	PLACE
2018 GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS	Sophomore	77	79	75	231	T24
2017 GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS	Freshman	75	80	76	231	T25

 
Sophomore Caleb Trost will play in the No. 2 position for the MSUB men this week, with an 8:03 a.m. tee time, and he is grouped with Justin Higgins of NNU and Trevor Frisby of SMU. Trost is averaging 76.8 strokes per round this spring, and has also played in all 25 of the Yellowjackets' rounds. He has a season low single-round score of 70, and has recorded five rounds at par or better.
 
Trost matched Woodin with a tie for fourth place at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational, which was his best finish after a three-round score of 215 (74-70-71). A month later he achieved his personal collegiate best with a 213 at the RMC Battlin' Bear Invite.
 
In his debut at the CDA Resort last spring, Trost carded a three-round score of 233 (79-78-76) and took 26th place.
   

CALEB TROST - SOPHOMORE	YEAR	R1	R2	R3	TOTAL	PLACE
2018 GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS	Freshman	79	78	76	233	26

 
Teeing off at 7:52 a.m. for MSUB will be junior Payton Stott, who has had a steady performance in his first season since transferring from Utah Valley University. Stott will be grouped with Isaac Emerson of NNU and Jordan Terada of SMU. Since returning to his hometown, Stott has averaged a score of 77.4 on the year and has played in 22 of 25 team rounds. His low for the season is a 70, and he has made par or better in four different rounds.
 
Stott's best finish of the campaign came at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational, where he tied for ninth place with a three-round score of 220 (72-76-72).
 
Riley Kaercher is the third MSUB player who has experience on the championship course, and he will tee off at 7:41 a.m. with Jared Stensgaard of NNU and Maxwell Turnquist of SMU. Kaercher scored a 240 (82-84-74) on the course last year as a true freshman with MSUB.
 
This season, Kaercher has played in 22 of 25 rounds and carries a scoring mark of 79.5 strokes per round. His 68 at the Battlin' Bear Invitational was the lowest single-round score by any MSUB player this season, and it contributed to his collegiate three-round best score of 216.
   

RILEY KAERCHER - SOPHOMORE	YEAR	R1	R2	R3	TOTAL	PLACE
2018 GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS	Freshman	82	84	74	240	29

 
Completing the field of five competitors for MSUB will be first-year sophomore Logan Martin, who transferred to MSUB this year after a season at Rocky Mountain College. Martin will tee off in the first group at 7:30 a.m., along with Drew Lunt of NNU and Dennis Geissler of SMU.
 
Martin holds a scoring average of 81.0 strokes per round, and joins Woodin and Trost in competing in all 25 rounds for MSUB. Martin's best score this year was a 1-over-par 72 at the Battlin' Bear Invitational, and his three-round score of 220 at the event stands as his season best for the 'Jackets.
 
Western Washington University enters the tournament as the heavy favorite with a 287 scoring average this year, a mark that is 7.8 strokes better than second-place Simon Fraser University. WWU has the top-five individual golfers in terms of scoring average in the entire conference, and the Vikings' Jordan Lee is the top player entering the tournament with a mark of 72.3 strokes per round.
 
Simon Fraser won the event in 2018 with an even-par 852 (276-290-286), and WWU's Ethan Castro was the individual champion with a three-round score of 209 (67-75-67). MSUB finished in sixth place last year, with a three-round score of 907 (301-313-293).
 
PLAYOFF BERTH ON THE LINE: For the first time ever, the GNAC will receive an automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA D2 West Region Golf Championships. The winner of the conference tournament will advance to the postseason field automatically.
 

Year	Score	R1	R2	R3	Pl	Top Finish	Score	R1	R2	R3	Pl
2018	907	301	313	293	6th/6	Caleb Stetzner	219	72	74	73	T10th
2017	906	297	309	300	6th/6	Michael Porter	223	73	74	76	T12th
2016	897	303	296	298	6th/6	Connor Miele	219	72	70	77	T14th
2015	894	301	293	300	5th/5	Jake Hedge	218	77	70	71	T5th
2014	919	309	296	314	5th/5	Gage Huft	222	75	74	73	8th
2013	905	306	298	301	4th/5	Gage Huft	223	74	74	75	T8th
2012	908	294	306	308	4th/5	Preston Richards	224	70	79	75	T11th
2011	964	329	316	319	5th/5	Mac Keating	237	85	74	78	13th
2010	927	312	304	311	4th/4	Kyle Armstrong	226	75	77	74	9th
2009	889	306	287	296	3rd/4	Jeff Allen	219	80	69	70	4th
2008	603	297	306	--	3rd/4	Tyler Nicholas	142	72	70	--	3rd

 *Note: 2008 Championships held at Indian Canyon in Spokane, Wash. (2-round event).