May 16, 1998

TEMPE, Ariz. - The top-ranked UNLV golf team shot its best score of the 1998 NCAA West Regional Golf Championship during the final round of play, however it could not catch Arizona State, which held on to the top spot to share the team title with New Mexico. The tournament, which was held at Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course (par 72, 7,037 yards) concluded with 18 holes on Saturday.

New Mexico shot a final-round 282 to finish at six-under-par 858, while Arizona State followed its tournament-low 277 on Friday with an even-par 288 on Saturday. UNLV shot a final round 285 to finish three shots back at three-under-par 861. California and Arizona tied for fourth place at 874.

"We didn't play very well on the front side again which is the easier half of the course," UNLV Head Coach Dwaine Knight said. "I'm real proud of our guys, though. They played great on the tougher back nine. We were within one or two shots with two holes to play, which is where we want to be. We are real close to playing very well, but we weren't at our best all week. However, we were in contention at the end which was our goal going into the tournament."

Arizona State's Paul Casey captured the individual crown. After shooting a competitive course record-tying 65 on Friday, he shot a final-round score of 71 to win the event by one shot with a 10-under-par total of 206. Ben Crane of Oregon finished second at 207, Doug La Belle of New Mexico finished third at 208, while Stanford's Joel Kribel, playing as an individual, finished fourth at 211. Kribel also tied the record by shooting a 65 on Friday. Colorado State's Nigel Spence finished fifth at 213.

UNLV had three players tie for 14th place at 216. They were Jeremy Anderson, Charley Hoffman and Chris Berry. Bill Lunde finished tied for 19th at 217, while Scott Lander tied for 23rd at 218.

"We weren't at our best this week," Anderson said. "I think we were a little rusty because we just completed final and didnt get to practice as much as we would have liked. It just shows what kind of team we have because of the fact that we were competitive even though we were not at the top of our game. We will be practicing every day this week to fine tune our game going into nationals and should be ready."

New Mexico, Arizona State, UNLV, California, Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara all advanced to the 30-team NCAA Championship at the University of New Mexico's Championship Course (par 72, 7,245 yards) in Albuquerque, N.M., May 27-30, by finishing among the top nine of the 18 teams at the regional. Kribel and Spence qualified for the NCAA Finals as individuals.

1998 NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPASU'S KARSTEN GOLF COURSE (PAR 72, 7,037 YARDS)TEMPE, ARIZ.

TEAM RESULTS AFTER SATURDAY'S FINAL ROUND1.  New Mexico  287-289-282-858 -6    Arizona State   293-277-288-858 -63.  UNLV        287-289-285-861 -34.  California  291-295-288-874 +10    Arizona     292-289-293-874 +106.  Oregon      300-288-287-875 +117.  UCLA        288-293-295-876 +128.  Fresno State    295-294-288-877 +139.  UCSB        290-291-298-879 +1510. Colorado State  300-285-295-880 +1611. Washington  295-291-300-886 +2212. Brigham Young   293-295-300-888 +2413. Nevada      305-291-294-890 +2614. New Mexico St.  301-295-295-891 +2715. Pacific     298-297-298-893 +2916. UC Irvine   298-298-300-896 +3217. Texas-El Paso   302-294-303-899 +3518. USC         303-296-304-903 +39

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS AFTER SATURDAY'S FINAL ROUND1.  Paul Casey, Arizona State   70-65-71-206    -102.  Ben Crane, Oregon           70-71-66-207    -93.  Doug La Belle, New Mexico   68-71-69-208    -84.  Joel Kribel, Stanford (IND) 73-65-73-211    -55.  Nigel Spence, Colorado State    71-70-72-213    -36.  James Watt, Nevada          73-69-72-214    -2    Andy Barnes, Arizona        73-69-72-214    -2    Ryan King, Fresno State     69-73-72-214    -29.  Rory Sabbatini, Arizona     71-70-74-215    -1    Andy Miller, Brigham Young  68-73-74-215    -1    Rob Rashell, Washington     73-72-70-215    -1    D.J. Brigman, New Mexico    73-72-70-215    -1    Greg Robertson, New Mexico  70-72-73-215    -114. Dan Arroyo, California      73-73-70-216    E    Matt Christensen, Fresno State  76-71-69-216    E    Jeremy Anderson, UNLV       71-73-72-216    E    Charley Hoffman, UNLV       73-71-72-216    E    Chris Berry, UNLV           73-72-71-216    E19. Bill Lunde, UNLV            74-73-70-217    +1    Jason Semelsberger, UCLA    74-72-71-217    +1    Kevin Wolf, Pacific         70-75-72-217    +1    Darren Angel, Arizona State 75-69-73-217    +123. Six tied at 218 (+2)

OTHER REBEL SCOREST23.    Scott Lander                70-75-73-218    +2