Plymouth, IN - The Illinois Central College Men's Golf team spent its Monday and Tuesday across state lines at Swan Lake Resort for the NJCAA Nationals Preview, hosted by Ancilla College. The Cougars found themselves right with defending National Champion Mississippi Gulf Coast, and defeating defending Runners-Up Kirkwood, as well as Region foe Heartland, all culminating in a fourth place finish as a team and Quinn Cox finishing third as an individual. 

Illinois Central College is not responsible for reported scoring errors from the live scoring system which could result in an inaccurate story.

Quinn Cox got off to a hot start on Monday, getting birdies on four of his front nine, and two more on the back nine as part of a -5 first day. Round two would prove a bit more challenging, but still a sub-80 round, with one birdie each on the front and back nine for a -2 for the event as a whole. 

Trey Boecker would break par in the first round as well, getting three birdies, including two on par-five holes for a -1 on day one. Another three-birdie day would follow, with the freshman ultimately playing to par in the second round, equaling a -1 for his two-day score. 

DJ Norman had a quality first day as well, especially on the back nine, where he would birdie the par-three 13th, par-five 15th, and par-four 17th. It is worth noting that of the 96 participating players, only 13 didn't at least par the aforementioned 15th hole. Norman's second day still saw a birdie on the card, doing so, yes, on that same 15th hole. 

Hunter Ficken would get his event going with a five-birdie first day, particuarly excelling on the back nine, with a birdie on the par-four 10th, par-three 13th, and par-five 15th. Ficken would carry momentum from the back nine into the front nine on day two, getting a birdie on three holes, including in consecutive fashion on the par-five fourth and par-five fifth holes. 

Fresh of medalist honors in Sherrard, Brock Taylor got off to a -2 start through the first four holes of the front nine, including a birdie on the par-five fourth. Taylor also snagged one birdie on the back nine, doing so on the par-five 18th. The sophomore would find his way to the bird again on the par-five fifth. 

Peyton Woods would birdie on the popular par-five 15th in the first round, but his best round would be on Monday. Woods would go for three birdies, including one on the par-four first and par-five fifth. 

Coach Sean Kennedy saw the event as a "pretty good event" with an "incredibly strong field", which featured nine of the 16 teams that finished in the top 20 of last spring's National Tournament, perhaps on purpose that an event of its caliber would be dubbed the "Nationals Preview". 

Coach Kennedy was also thrilled to see Region 24's representation, with Vincennes making it that the Region had half of the top eight teams for the event. 

Due to a likely online scoring error, a link to the full stats from the event will be withheld from this story until the scores are corrected. 

INDIVIDUAL PLACING NOTABLES
Quinn Cox - Third Place
Trey Boecker - Fifth Place tie (awarded Sixth Place medal)
DJ Norman - Eighth Place tie

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
The Cougars will be off from events for the next few days before taking to the course at the highly-regarded Atkins Golf Club in Urbana on Monday for the MWAC Championship at 8:30 AM. Atkins Golf Club is a championship-quality course that is also the home course of perennial Big Ten Men's Golf power Illinois.