Golfers finish eighth

By Stacey DeFever, On-Line Forty-Niner

Wednesday, October 7, 1998

The Long Beach State men's golf team placed eighth overall in the third annual 49er Collegiate Classic Thursday, Oct. 1 and Friday, Oct. 2 at the Virginia Country Club. Fifteen schools participated in the tournament. Contributing to Long Beach's total score of 897 were golfers Brian Merrick, Perry Dickey, Steve Mena and John Mallinger.

Merrick ranked among the Top 20 players with a three-round total of 220, seven strokes over par. Dickey and Mena tied at 224 and Mallinger scored 229.

Leading the way at the tournament was UC Santa Barbara golfer, Naoya Takemoto, who scored 72 the first round and a consistent 68 for the second and third rounds, finishing at five-under-par with a total of 208.

The Top 5 teams in the tournament were UC Santa Barbara, University of Toledo, University of North Texas, University of Texas and UC Irvine. First-place Santa Barbara finished the Classic with a combined total of 860.

The Beach's next tournament is Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Sunnyside Country Club and will be hosted by Fresno State.