OC golf team takes 3rd in Diet Pepsi Shocker Invitational

OC’s Preston Wilkins (left) shot a 68 Tuesday and finished fourth in the Diet Pepsi Shocker Invitational.

WICHITA, Kan. (Sept. 13, 2011) – Led by top-five finishes by Logan Herbst and Preston Wilkins, Oklahoma Christian’s men’s golf team posted a third-place finish in the Diet Pepsi Shocker Invitational, which ended Tuesday at Wichita Country Club.

Playing in their first tournament since winning the NAIA championship this past spring, the Eagles finished behind two NCAA Division I teams, host Wichita State and Kansas State. OC posted a team score of 5-over-par 852 over three rounds, 24 shots behind WSU and 11 shots behind KSU.

The Eagles beat another NCAA Division I team, Texas-Arlington, by 11 shots, and outdistanced a pair of fellow NAIA powers, Oklahoma City University and Texas Wesleyan, by 13 and 29 shots, respectively.

Herbst fired a 3-under 68 Tuesday on the 6,447-yard layout, giving him a three-round score of 5-under 208, four shots behind Wichita State teammates Hunter Sparks and Calvin Pearson. Wilkins also had a 68 Tuesday and finished one shot behind Herbst.

Wilkins posted 17 birdies during the three rounds, tops among the 56 players in the field, and was a strong 6-under on the course’s par-5 holes. Herbst had 12 birdies and was 5-under on the par-5s.

“I was very happy with the play of Logan Herbst and Preston Wilkins,” OC Director of Golf David Lynn said. “They showed their leadership by stepping up right from the start this week. To finish third and fourth, respectively, in that quality field was very good.”

OC’s final round of 282 was its best of the tournament and the second-best among all the eight teams Tuesday. Besides Herbst and Wilkins, Vilhelm Bogstrand also posted an under-par round for the Eagles with a 69. Jared Consoli fired a 77 and Taylor Williams an 80.

Playing unattached from the team, Kyle Hudelson shot a 74 on Tuesday.

“I was also very pleased with Vilhelm’s round today,” Lynn said. “He made steady improvement from the first round to the final round, shooting 76-73-69. That was a key team round for us. We know what we need to do in order to get better. We have to sharpen our wedge play and our underclassmen just need some more tournaments.”

OC’s next tournament will be Oct. 3-4 in the Texoma Championship, hosted in Kingston by Southeastern Oklahoma State.

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