INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The No. 28 Valdosta State men's golf team qualified for the NCAA South/Southeast Regional, announced Friday evening by the NCAA.  The Blazers are one of eight teams qualifying from the South Region. 
 
The Blazers are seeded seventh in the regional and one of three teams from the Gulf South Conference in the regional as top-seeded West Florida and No. 3-seed Lee are the other two.  Sunshine State Conference members Lynn (No. 2), Barry (No. 5), Nova Southeastern (No. 5), Saint Leo (No. 6) and Florida Southern (No. 8) also qualified. 
 
The eight teams from the South will compete with the eight teams from the Southeast region, May 6-8 at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla.  The regional is hosted by Florida Southern and the field will be playing the Blue Course.  The top four teams from the super regional will advance to the NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championship scheduled for May 17-21 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
 
Each of the teams from the South Region are ranked in the top 30 of the latest Golfstat Rankings.  West Florida is the top-ranked team, while Lynn sits third, followed by Barry at seventh and Lee at eighth to round out the top ten.  Saint Leo is 13^th, followed by Nova Southeastern (24^th), Florida Southern (27^th) and VSU is 29^th.  
 
The Southeast Region features seven of the top 20 teams in the country including; No. 2 Lincoln Memorial, No. 5 South Carolina-Aiken, No. 9 Young Harris, No. 11 Georgia Southwestern, No. 12 Columbus State, No. 15 Georgia College and No. 19 North Georgia.  Mount Olive earned the automatic bid by winning the Conference Carolinas Championship and is 62^nd in Golfstat.
 
For the super regional as a whole, there are seven of the top ten teams in the country and 13 are ranked in the Golfstat Top 25.
 
"We are thrilled to be returning to the NCAA postseason," VSU head coach Jared Purvis said.  "We knew at the beginning of the year it would be even tougher this season to advance with the reduction in field sizes.  Our guys worked extremely hard all season and now they have been rewarded.  Streamsong's Blue Course is an amazing site for our regional.  We can't wait to get there and compete against the best teams in the country."
 
Along with the 16 teams advancing to the regional, three players from non-qualifying teams from both the South and Southeast regions also advance to the super regional.  The top finishing individual also will advance to the national championship round.  The three individuals from the South Region included are; Aadam Syed of Tampa, Paul Murphey of Montevallo and Trystan Perkins of Rollins.  The three individuals included from the Southeast Region are; Austin Duncan of North Greenville, Evens Lewis of North Greenville and Alberta Avila of Erskine.
 
This marks the second time since 2013 VSU has qualified for the NCAA Super Regional as a team, while it has had numerous individuals qualify during that span.  The Blazers were runner-up in the Gulf South Conference in 2019 and qualified for the regional as a team, finishing tied for 12^th at Mission Inn in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla.  Current Blazers Wesley Hanson and Gage Smith competed in the regional that season.
 
For the Blazers in 2021, the team finished fourth at the Gulf South Conference Championship last week in Mobile, Ala., at the Robert Trent Jones Magnolia Grove Crossing.  VSU carded a 54-hole score of 874 on rounds of 290, 284 and 300.  Hanson finished tied for sixth to lead the team and was named the GSC Spring Champion Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete for the second year in a row.  Hanson has a 4.00 grade-point average in management and a minor in accounting.
 
The Blazer lineup for the regional will be the same players as last week in the conference tournament.  Along with Hanson and G. Smith, sophomore Chase Weathers, senior AJ Ouimet and freshman Ryan Pollman complete the team. 
 
Hanson has played in seven of the eight tournaments this season for the Blazers and has a 73.38 stroke average in 21 rounds.  He has fired 19 rounds in the 70s and a career-low of 66 at the Saint Leo Invitational (Feb. 22-23). 
 
G. Smith and Ouimet are the only two Blazers to have played in all eight tournaments this season.  Ouimet has a 74.75 stroke average in 24 rounds with 21 rounds in the 70s and a low-round of 69 at the 2021 Southeastern Collegiate (Mar. 15-16) in Valdosta.  G. Smith has a 74.50 stroke average in 24 rounds with 22 rounds in the 70s and a low round of 68 at the Gulf South Conference Championship last week (Apr. 18-19).
 
Weathers has played in six tournaments for a 74.28 average for 18 rounds.  He has a career-low 67 at the Saint Leo Invitational (Feb. 22-23), finishing a season-best tied for seventh.  Weathers has 16 rounds in the 70s this season.  Pollman also has played in seven tournaments this season for a 75.14 average.  He has tallied all 21 rounds in the 70s with a low round of 71 in the final round of the GSC Championship last week (Apr. 18-19).
 
Click on the link to the right for the complete NCAA field and qualifying teams.  Check back with vstateblazers.com prior to the regional for a preview.