Huskers Continue Fall Slate in Texas

Lincoln -- The Nebraska men's golf team will compete in it second tournament of the fall campaign next week at the Mean Green Invitational. The 54-hole tournament will be held at Lantana Golf Club in Denton, Texas, with North Texas serving as the host school for the event.

The Huskers opened their 2003-04 season this week in their own Fairway Club Invitational. The tournament was shortened to 36 holes after rain canceled Tuesday's final round, depriving Nebraska of a chance to improve on its sixth-place standing after the opening two rounds.

The Mean Green Invitational will open with 36 holes on Monday, followed by the third and final round on Tuesday. Nebraska Coach Bill Spangler said host North Texas, Arkansas State and Washington State are among the teams to beat in the field.

"The field down there will be good," Spangler said. "We'll see some teams we don't normally compete against, but there are also a couple district teams we need to play well against, including Arkansas State."

Nebraska's lineup for the Mean Green Invitational will be led by seniors J.J. Sullivan and Chris Hartwig, with sophomore Judd Cornell, redshirt freshman Drew Reynolds and true freshman Brady Schnell rounding out the squad. Spangler said he is confident his young team will fare well next week in Texas.

"We really played pretty well in our invite, but each individual player had to count some bad holes and that hurt us," Spangler said. "Our guys are pretty confident right now, and I feel like we are on the verge of some good things happening this fall."

The Huskers finished ninth out of 14 teams in last year's Mean Green Invitational, with Sullivan (tie, 19th) and Hartwig (tie, 30th) pacing Nebraska.

NU Finishes Sixth in Rain-Shortened Invite
Nebraska finished sixth at its own Fairway Club Invitational this week at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln. The Huskers posted scores of 298 and 294 on Monday to stand in sixth place at 592 after day one, and unfortunately did not have an opportunity to improve on its standing as the final round was washed out.

The Huskers stood 11 shots behind team champion Iowa State, but were just five shots out of second place, shared by Illinois State and Akron. Oklahoma City and Southwest Missouri State rounded out the top five.

Individually, Schnell was Nebraska's top finisher in his first collegiate competition. The Millard West graduate competed as an individual after he just missed qualifying for a spot in the team lineup. Schnell responded with a 69 to tie for the first-round lead and posted a 75 in the second round, good for a 145 total and a tie for ninth place.

Nebraska's top finisher among the players competing as part of the team was redshirt freshman Drew Reynolds, who posted rounds of 70 and 77 to finish in 12th place. Sullivan, Nebraska's No. 1 player, posted rounds of 74 and 76 to finish in a tie for 26th place, while Hartwig's second-round 72 moved him into a tie for 30th place with teammate Judd Cornell. True freshman Thomas Bethel rounded out the Husker lineup with a 152 total, including a second-round 71, and finished in 34th place.