Garden City, Kansas -- Indian Hills' Ricky Sanders capped a tremendous freshman season by claiming individual medalist honors, but the Warriors couldn't hold a third-round lead and had to settle for second place at the NJCAA Division I National Championship.
Sanders, who entered the last 18 holes one stroke behind the leader and in second place, birdied three of the first four holes on Friday and went on .
to defeat runnerup Adam Blomme of Odessa by four shots. The IHCC freshman had scores of two-under par 70 in the opening and closing rounds and, in between, shot a one-over 73 and and even-par 72. His total of 285 was three-under for four trips around the Buffalo Dunes Golf Club course. For winning the title Sanders was presented the Arnold Palmer National Individual Champion Award and became a member of the Ping All-American first team, moving up from the second-team designation he had earned going into the tourney.
Indian Hills trailed Odessa after both of the first two rounds -- by eight strokes after each 18 holes -- before surging into the lead on the strength of a 288 team score on day three. It left them a single shot in front of the Wranglers. That was the third-lowest round of the tourney and positioned IHCC to possibly take home the sixth national title in school history. But Odessa went five shots lower than Indian Hills over the last 18 holes on the wettest day of the tourney Friday and cemented a four-shot margin of victory. Indian Hills defeated third-place Eastern Florida State by two.
IHCC had the invididual leader after the third round, and it wasn't Sanders. Sophomore Eric Gilpin used a three-under par 69 to top the field with a 214 score with one round remaining. He led his teammate, Sanders, and Midland's Stefan Kronje by one after three rounds. Gilpin struggled to a final-round 81, yet still wound up in a tie for 10th at +7, improving on the tie for 81st place he posted as a freshman.
Jackson Bugdalski, an Indian Hills first-team All-American who was fifth at the national meet last year, came in tied for 15th this time after opening with a one-over 73 and following with three consecutive 75s.
IHCC's Julien Sale tied for 18th place with a 299, 11 over, and Jakub Bares, like Bugdalski and Gilpin playing in his second national meet, finished in a tie for 49th. Bares tied for 34th as a freshman.
The individual win was Sanders' third of the spring and came on the heels of his playoff win in the District III tournament. Earlier in the week he had been presented with the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award.
As a team, Indian Hills improved on a tie for 4th in the 2016 tourney. They will return Sanders and Sale from the five who represented the Warriors at the '17 tourney. IHCC won four of its spring meets and was second in the other two, including the national championship.
NJCAA Division I National Championship
Team scores (top 10):
1. Odessa 284-292-297-293=1166; 2. Indian Hills 292-292-288-298=1170; 3. Eastern Florida State 294-289-299-290=1172; 4. Midland 294-293-292-304=1183; 5. McLennan 286-305-299-307=1197; 6. Iowa Western 290-302-302-308=1202; 7. Western Texas 299-302-305-301=1207; 8. Dodge City 295-291-303-320=1209; 9. New Mexico 297-310-305-301=1213; 10. Spartanburg Methodist 289-304-317-310=1220
Indian Hills scores:
1. Ricky Sanders 70-73-72-70=285; T10. Eric Gilpin 74-71-69-81=295; T15. Jackson Bugdalski 73-75-75-75=298; T18. Julien Sale 75-73-72-79=299; T49. Jakub Bares 78-79-78-74=309