Flashes Clinch Record 6th Straight MAC Men's Golf Title

Sunday, May 4

Prairie View G.C., Carmel, Ind.

Kent State University

MAC Championship

Flashes Clinch Record 6th Straight MAC Men's Golf Title

5/4/2014 3:53:00 PM | Men's Golf

CARMEL, Ind. – Kent State became the first team to win six consecutive outright Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships by completing a 10-shot victory over Toledo and Akron on Sunday at Prairie View Golf Club.

The 3-over-par total (286-284-282-303–1,155) increased Kent State's record of conference championships to 22, while senior Corey Conners added the 23rd individual MAC title won by a Kent State player since the event was first contested in 1947.

"Winning never gets old," said Kent State head coach Herb Page, who was voted the MAC's Coach of the Year on Sunday by his piers. "This is special because our seniors, Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Kyle Kmiecik have now never lost in this championship. And to win six in a row is a tribute to the support we get from above and the fact that it is important to the athletic department at Kent State to have a championship golf program."

Conners and Pendrith were voted the Mid-American Conference's co-Payers of the Year by the league's coaches. Both were also selected to the All-MAC First Team and to the MAC All-Tournament Team while Kmieck was selected to the All-MAC Second Team.

Miami University also won six consecutive MAC titles from 1987-1992, but the RedHawks were forced to share the final crown in that run with Kent State when the two teams finished in a tie at Bowling Green.

The individual victory by Conners was his second at the MAC Championship. He also won in 2012 with a 7-under-par total over three rounds at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

Conners (72-67-65-73–277) finished at 11-under-par this week to claim a five-shot victory over Pendrith. He took control of the leaderboard with a 65 on Saturday that featured a hole-in-one at the 12th hole.

"This is obviously pretty special and I feelbery lucky," said Conners. "I'm happy with how I played and how the team did. We got the job done. Hopefully we can gain some confidence from this week, especially the way we played in the (third) round."

That third round also saw Kent State put a stranglehold on the team championship, building a 23-shot lead with a 4-under-par 282. The Flashes needed the cushion created by the tournament's low round as they struggled to a 15-over-par 303 on Sunday that matched Ball State for the final round's highest score.

"We've had some ups and downs and inconsistencies, but this team is very resilient," said Page. "We didn't play our best round on Sunday, but Saturday's round was one of the best I've ever been affiliated with. To have that big lead, we could afford to play a little less than our best. Corey and Taylor were both great all week, and when you have a third senior like Kyle Kmiecik, you win championships. Once again, they held it together."

Pendrith (71-70-69-72–282) was the only Kent State player to shoot par or better in all four rounds, finishing at 6-under for the tournament. Only Conners, Pendrith and Akron's Charlie Bull (4-under) closed the week in red numbers.

Kmiecik, freshman Josh Whalen and sophomore Sebastian Bendsen all shot 79 for Kent State on Sunday. Whalen (71-70-69-72–282) finished in 17th place at 11-over-par while Kmiecik (71-73-78-79–301) and Bendsen (76-74-74-79–303) finished in 23rd and 29th place respectively.

"Our score wasn't particularly good today, but we had some really good rounds this week," said Conners. "We'll try to take the positives from that and gain some confidence from the week. We are very happy with winning the MAC and motivated to keep playing some more golf."

Kent State will learn where it will play in the upcoming NCAA Regional tournament when the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships selections are announced live on Monday, May 5, from 10-11 a.m. during Morning Drive, Golf Channel's daily morning news and lifestyle show.

With the victory by the Golden Flashes' women's team last weekend, Kent State secured possession of the Mid-American Conference championship trophies for both men's and women's golf for the 12th time in the last 16 years.

Finishing ahead of Akron also secured another full point for Kent State in the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge, giving the Golden Flashes a 6.5-to-5.5 lead over the Zips with points still to be awarded in baseball and men's and women's outdoor track and field.

Position	Teams	Scoring			Rounds				Total Score
Position	Teams	to par	thru	today	1	2	3	4	Total Score
1	Kent State	+3	F	+15	286	284	282	303	1155
2	Akron	+13	F	+2	284	291	300	290	1165
3	Toledo	+16	F	+4	293	286	297	292	1168
4	Eastern Michigan	+25	F	+2	284	300	303	290	1177
5	Miami	+40	F	-1	302	296	307	287	1192
6	BGSU	+42	F	+6	296	295	309	294	1194
7	Ball State	+43	F	+15	292	298	302	303	1195
8	Ohio	+54	F	+11	304	299	304	299	1206
9	Northern Illinois	+61	F	+11	308	301	305	299	1213

Position/Player	1	2	3	4	Total
1 Corey Conners	72 E	67 -5	65 -7	73 +1	277 -11
2 Taylor Pendrith	71 -1	70 -2	69 -3	72 E	282 -6
17 Josh Whalen	72 E	74 +2	74 +2	79 +7	299 +11
23 Kyle Kmiecik	71 -1	73 +1	78 +6	79 +7	301 +13
29 Sebastian Bendsen	76 +4	74 +2	74 +2	79 +7	303 +15
Team Total	286 -2	284 -4	282 -6	303 +15	1155 +3
Team Position	3	1	1	1	1

Round 4 - May 3, 2014 @ Prairie View Golf Club

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Front	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Back	Total
Par	4	4	5	3	4	3	5	4	4	36	4	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	5	36	72
Sebastian Bendsen	4	4	6	3	4	3	5	4	3	36	6	5	3	6	6	4	5	3	5	43	79
Kyle Kmiecik	5	4	5	4	6	3	5	4	6	42	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	6	37	79
Josh Whalen	4	4	4	4	6	5	4	4	4	39	3	5	4	6	4	4	4	4	6	40	79
Taylor Pendrith	5	4	5	4	3	3	5	4	4	37	4	3	3	4	5	3	4	4	5	35	72
Corey Conners	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	36	4	5	3	4	4	3	5	3	6	37	73

Current Position	Player	Team	Scoring			Rounds				Total Score
Current Position	Player	Team	to par	thru	today	1	2	3	4	Total Score
1	Corey Conners	Kent State	-11	F	+1	72	67	65	73	277
2	Taylor Pendrith	Kent State	-6	F	E	71	70	69	72	282
3	Charlie Bull	Akron	-4	F	-2	69	70	75	70	284
4	Ryan Harris	Akron	E	F	+2	71	71	72	74	288
5	Brett Rinker	BGSU	+1	F	-2	73	69	77	70	289
T6	Nate Gonring	Toledo	+2	F	E	74	69	75	72	290
T6	Otto Black	Toledo	+2	F	+4	71	70	73	76	290
T8	Brett White	Eastern Michigan	+5	F	-4	71	76	78	68	293
T8	Chris Selfridge	Toledo	+5	F	-2	75	77	71	70	293
10	Scott Cahill	Miami	+6	F	+2	75	71	74	74	294
T11	Kyle Rodes	Eastern Michigan	+7	F	+3	76	74	70	75	295
T11	Michael Blair	Eastern Michigan	+7	F	E	70	74	79	72	295
T13	Caulen Coe	Northern Illinois	+8	F	+5	74	71	74	77	296
T13	Brian Churchill-Smith	Eastern Michigan	+8	F	+3	69	76	76	75	296
T13	James Blackwell	Ball State	+8	F	+4	74	70	76	76	296
16	McCormick Clouser	Ball State	+10	F	+2	75	75	74	74	298
T17	J.B. Williams	Akron	+11	F	-3	73	76	81	69	299
T17	Liam White	Northern Illinois	+11	F	E	79	74	74	72	299
T17	Tyler Merkel	Ball State	+11	F	+4	70	78	75	76	299
T17	Josh Whalen	Kent State	+11	F	+7	72	74	74	79	299
T21	Zach Gollwitzer	Akron	+12	F	+5	71	74	78	77	300
T21	Andrew Mylnarski	Ohio	+12	F	+1	74	70	83	73	300
T23	Kyle Kmiecik	Kent State	+13	F	+7	71	73	78	79	301
T23	Peyton White	Ohio	+13	F	+2	79	76	72	74	301
T23	Jack Sparling	Miami	+13	F	E	74	74	81	72	301
T26	Raphael Denais	Northern Illinois	+14	F	-1	75	78	78	71	302
T26	Chris Melvin	BGSU	+14	F	+1	72	73	84	73	302
T26	Thomas Shindler	Toledo	+14	F	+2	75	72	81	74	302
T29	Phil Gieseker	Ohio	+15	F	E	73	78	80	72	303
T29	Sebastian Bendsen	Kent State	+15	F	+7	76	74	74	79	303
T31	Keegan McKinney	Ball State	+16	F	+7	73	75	77	79	304
T31	Mark MacDonald	Miami	+16	F	-1	77	76	80	71	304
T33	Jose Narro	BGSU	+17	F	+1	76	76	80	73	305
T33	Ryan Triller	BGSU	+17	F	+6	76	77	74	78	305
T35	Greg Conrad	Miami	+18	F	-2	77	79	80	70	306
T35	Jamie Richardson	Toledo	+18	F	+8	73	75	78	80	306
T37	Joey Kremer	Eastern Michigan	+20	F	+3	74	79	80	75	308
T37	Daniel Schwarz	Miami	+20	F	+12	76	75	73	84	308
39	Louis Birchall	Akron	+23	F	+10	75	79	75	82	311
40	Joe Cooper	BGSU	+25	F	+11	75	77	78	83	313
41	Thomas Leech	Ohio	+26	F	+8	83	75	76	80	314
42	Albert Jennings	Ball State	+27	F	+5	76	78	84	77	315
T43	Bradley Lucas	Ohio	+28	F	+11	78	79	76	83	316
T43	Jake Curwin	Northern Illinois	+28	F	+7	80	78	79	79	316
45	Pierrick Fillon	Northern Illinois	+39	F	+9	84	80	82	81	327