By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

KENNEWICK, WASH. -- The Bearcat men's golf team from Willamette University finished the 2012 Northwest Conference Championship Tournament in seventh place with an overall score of 634, as the tournament concluded with the final 18 holes on Sunday, April 22. The Bearcats shot 314 on the first day and 320 on Sunday.

Cody Plofker (Fr., Montclair, NJ/Montclair HS) of Willamette tied for sixth in the individual standings with a 36-hole total of 150. He carded a 75 in both rounds. Plofker also earned Second Team All-NWC recognition for his efforts at the conference's three main tournaments throughout the year.

Alex Fitch from Linfield College won medalist honors at the NWC Championship Tournament with a score of 142 (68-74). Nick Kelley, competing for the University of Puget Sound, was second at 147 (73-74) and Dustin Hegge of Pacific Lutheran University was third at 148 (69-79).

Connor Magnuson of Linfield and Saul Martinez of Whitworth tied for fourth place at 149. Magnuson shot 73-76 and Martinez carded 74-75.

Plofker was joined in a three-way tie for sixth place by Joey Degroff from Whitworth (73-77--150) and Taylor Klopp from Linfield (74-76--150).

Linfield achieved the tournament title with a score of 596 (293-303), as the Wildcats finished three strokes in front of Whitworth University. The Pirates picked up two strokes on Linfield during Sunday's round, but couldn't catch the Wildcats. Whitworth ended the tournament at 599 (298-301). Puget Sound was third with back-to-back scores of 303, as the Loggers carded an overall team score of 606.

Fourth place went to Pacific Lutheran at 614 (303-311). Pacific University was fifth at 623 (311-32), Whitman was sixth at 632 (319-313), Willamette finished seventh at 634 (314-320), George Fox University took eighth at 645 (325-320) and Lewis & Clark was ninth at 740 (376-364).

Joining Plofker in Willamette's lineup for the tournament were Jonathan Ross (Fr., Tukwila, WA/Foster HS), Ryan Kukula (Fr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS), Jacob Simonson (So., Fairview, OR/Reynolds HS) and Kyle Derby (So., Oakdale, CA/Oakdale HS).

Ross shot 160 overall, with a 79 in the first round and an 81 over the final 18 holes. Kukula (83-79) and Simonson (77-85) each carded a 162. Derby shot 174 (84-90).

The NWC Championship Tournament counted for one-half of the overall NWC men's golf title, with the NWC Fall Classic and the NWC Spring Classic each counting for one-fourth of the championship.

In the final overall standings, Linfield won the NWC championship with 31 points, Whitworth was second with 25 points and Puget Sound was third with 24 points. Whitman and Pacific Lutheran tied for fourth with 19 points, Pacific was sixth with 10 points, Willamette and George Fox tied for seventh with eight points and Lewis & Clark was ninth with zero points.