By: Tim Flynn
2025 NCAA West/South Central Championship [Live Leaderboard]
Thursday-Saturday - hosted by Cal State San Bernardino - The Victoria Club, Riverside, Calif.
MINES QUALIFIES FOR NCAA REGIONALS
For the first time since 2019, Colorado School of Mines is headed to the NCAA West/South Central Regional Championship as a team as they fly to California this week for the three-round tournament. The Orediggers hope to finish among the top six teams to go even further into the postseason.
THE TOURNAMENT
The NCAA regional tournament is a three-day, 54-hole tournament, one of four nationally that will determine the field for the NCAA Division II Championship. The ten best teams from both the West and South Central regions will compete in stroke play, and the top six finishing teams, plus the top two individuals not with one of those teams, at the West/South Central regional will advance. One wrinkle introduced in the postseason is that teams can substitute any member of their lineup, for any reason, up to 10 minutes prior to their tee time on any given day. The Orediggers will tee off Thursday's first round starting at 8:30 a.m. PT.
Live results are available on Scoreboard.
THE FORECAST
It will be hot and breezy throughout the tournament with an unseasonable heat wave settling in for the weekend with highs in the 90s all three days of the tournament and afternoon winds up to 15 mph.
THE COURSE
Riverside, California's The Victoria Club will welcome the 2025 NCAA West/South Central Regional with Cal State San Bernardino serving as the host institution. The historic course, opened in 1920 and most recently renovated in 2005, has hosted numerous high-level tournaments including qualifying for the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Mid-Amateur, as well as the Southern California Amateur Championship. From the championship tees, the course plays 6,557 yards at par 72.
For a hole-by-hole look at The Victoria Club, visit their web site.
THE FIELD
Plenty of familiar names await Mines at the NCAA regional in a strong field that includes 13 of the top 50 teams in the last Scoreboard rankings. Defending national champion Colorado Christian heads the ten teams from the South Central joined by Mines, Colorado Mesa, and CSU Pueblo from the RMAC and West Texas A&M, UT-Tyler, Midwestern State, Oklahoma Christian, St. Mary's, and Dallas Baptist from the Lone Star Conference. The West region's ten includes host institution Cal State San Bernardino along with Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Sonoma State, Simon Fraser, Western Washington, Stanislaus State, Chico State, Cal State San Marcos, and Hawaii-Hilo.
MINES AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Orediggers are making their first NCAA regional appearance since 2019 and their 10th overall, all coming since 2010. Mines has moved on to the national tournament once, after tying for the win at the 2012 regional. Although it's Mines' first team appearance at regionals since 2019, two members of the current squad have played in the tournament as individuals -
Lukas Taggart and
Max Lange both went as at-large qualifiers in 2023, with Taggart finishing T52 and Lange T82; Taggart qualified again last year and was T27.
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE
Colorado School of Mines is scheduled to hold its annual spring undergraduate commencement ceremonies this Friday, and one Oredigger has an excused absence.
Theodore Reitter is set to graduate with his B.S. in civil engineering, but was named to the NCAA regionals team and instead will be wrapping up his second round about the same time he was slated to walk across the stage in Golden. Reitter will receive his degree in absentia.
LOOKING AHEAD
Should Mines qualify, the NCAA Division II Championships will take place May 20-23 at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla
MINES LINEUP
1. Colt Tenpenny (Jr.)
Leads Mines in average this season (72.76) … Was runner-up at the FHSU Tiger Classic on April 1 … Has finished top 20 in three consecutive events including T18 at RMACs.
2. Lucas Schulte (Sr.)
Has had a strong spring with four top-30 appearances including T17 at The Stack Cougar-Burro Collegiate and career-best 10th at the RMAC Championships … Averaging 73.59.
3. Max Lange (Jr.)
Ended the RMAC Championships tied for 15th … Making second career NCAA regionals appearance, finishing T82 as a freshman in 2023.
4. Theodore Reitter (Sr.)
Returns to lineup for the first time since the Las Vegas Desert Classic, where he finished T52 … Has appeared in two tournaments this season.
5. Carter Lolli (Jr.)
Shot career-low (and Mines' season-low) 66 at the RMAC Championships … Has two best career finishes in last two outings, T10 at the Palm Valley Classic and T11 at RMACs.
SUB. Lukas Taggart (Jr.)
Is only active Oredigger to have played in two NCAA regionals, finishing T52 in 2023 and T27 in 2024 as an individual… Under NCAA's format, can be substituted into the lineup prior to any round.
