Sept. 23, 2004

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -

The Southeast Missouri State men's golf team will hit the road this weekend and travel to Richmond, Kentucky to tee up at the Eastern Kentucky Colonel Classic. The Southeast Missouri golf team hopes their hot final round from the Harris Fall Classic will carryover to this weekend's competition at the Arlington Country Club.

Southeast will be among four Ohio Valley Conference schools competing at the 12 team event, along with host Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Morehead State. Other teams competing are Cincinnati, Oakland, Lipscomb, Dayton, Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, Malone College, Cumberland College and Longwood.

Southeast will be amongst the favorites to win the team and individual titles, but will face tough teams in Oakland, Cincinnati, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

"This is a great early season tournament for us," said assistant coach Kent Phillips. "We'll be tested and that's great because we then get a better feel of where we are at in terms of competing and improving in certain areas of our game."

Sophomore Zack Decker will lead the way for the five-man team Southeast will field at the classic. Decker finished third at the Harris Fall Classic with the help of a final round score of 67. However Matt Hillis, Mark Schmitz, Brandon Couch and Justin Setser each finished strong at the Fall Classic and look to continue their success against a highly competitive field that will be present at Arlington.

"We need to keep improving every tournament and not settle for where we are at now," said Phillips. "These guys know this and that's what fuels them into becoming better golfers every day."