WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Ohio University sophomores Ryan Siekmann (Dublin) and Blake Russell (Dublin) tied for 12th and 14th, respectively, as the Bobcat men’s golf team placed fifth at the 2005 Mid-American Conference Men’s Golf Championship. In Saturday’s final round at the Medallion Club, Ohio shot a two-over 290 to finish with a 72-hole score of 1155, putting them behind winner Kent State (1119), Eastern Michigan (1138), Ball State (1150) and Toledo (1151).

Siekmann, who was named to the All-MAC second team, carded a 74 over the last 18 holes to end with a 288 and Russell posted a final-round 73 to come in at 289. Fellow sophomore Mark Cimarolli (Pittsburgh) tied for 30th at 294 after posting a one-under 71 on Saturday while junior Jon Johasky (Lower Burrell, Pa.) finished 32nd at 295 and junior Brian Elsea tied for 40th with a 300.

“We got off to a bad start today but the kids hung in there,” said Bobcat head coach Bob Cooley. “They kept competing and didn’t give up. We put up some good scores but not great scores.”

The Golden Flashes ran away from the competition at the 10-team event, setting tournament records for a single round (271), 36 holes (556), 54 holes (838) and 72 holes. For the first time since 1970, individual medalist honors were shared as Kent State’s Ryan Yip and Tommy Wiegand both tied at 11-under 277.

Finishing behind Ohio in the team standings were Akron (1160), Northern Illinois (1161), Bowling Green (1169), Marshall (1172) and Miami (1175).

The Bobcats set a school record for 72 holes with their 1155 mark. Ohio’s team score of 865 heading into Saturday’s final round would have won last year’s 54-hole conference tournament by two strokes and the squad’s final score would have won 2003’s 72-hole event by 19 strokes.

With no Bobcat players graduating this year and the impending return of senior Brian Bickle (Gallipolis), who redshirted this season, Cooley expects his squad to keep improving over the summer and into next year.

“Hopefully this will make us work a little harder because par is not good enough,” he said. “I think we’ll be a better team next year because we’ll have at least seven good players competing against each other. The competition will make everybody better.”