NASHPORT, Ohio - The NIU men's golf team rallied three spots in the final standings to finish fifth at the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championship, shooting a 294. Sophomore Salvador Rocha led the Huskies with a 71 in the final 18 holes to close the tournament with a 292 (+4), tying for eighth overall. No Huskie shot over 76 in the round.

This is the third-straight season Northern Illinois University has finished amongst the top-five in the MAC. NIU shot an 879 (+13) in the last three rounds, second to only tournament champion Kent State's 862. The Golden Flashes won the tournament by a margin of 25 strokes.

"We are very proud of the effort and outcome today. The weather was horrible today. We had fog delay to start, followed by two rain delays but we kept our focus on winning our pairing and possibly catching a few others," said Director of golf Tom Porten. "Sal had an outstanding tournament and Paul, Thomas and Jordan all kept grinding."

Rocha carded four birdies in the round to lead NIU, en route to finishing as the tournament leader on par fives at -8. NIU and Kent State were the only teams in the field to finish at least -10 on five stroke holes.

Paul Schlimm closed the day with a 73 (+1) for the second-best round by a Huskie while Jordan Less and Thomas DeMarco each registered a 75 (+3). Charlie Cameron rallied in the final three holes of play with two birdies to shoot a 76 in the round.

In the end, the Huskies finish reflected its opening round of play, but optimism around the program in the years to come are high.

"We are young and just learning how to play championship level golf and our inexperience showed in round one. After that, we played solid," Porten closed.

Northern Illinois University Athletics will host the NCAA Division I Golf Championships at Rich Harvest Farms, the Home of the Huskies, May 19–24 for the women and May 26-31 for the men. Tickets for the events can be purchased at NIUHuskies.com/Tickets and NCAA.com/Tickets.

TEAM SCORES: 1. Kent State - 287-288-285-289=1149 (-3); 2. Ball State - 294-288-294-298=1174 (+22); 3. Ohio - 303-296-289-295=1183 (+31); 4. Miami (OH) - 296-301-291-297=1185 (+33); 5. NIU - 311-296-289-294=1190 (+38); 6. Akron - 303-301-290-297=1191 (+39);  7. Eastern Michigan - 303-293-299-297=1192 (+40); 8. Toledo - 289-300-295-306=1197 (+45); 9. Bowling Green - 305-304-293-299=1201 (+49) 

TOP-10 INDIVIDUALS: 1. Gisli Sveinbergsson  (KSU) - 68-70-71-71=280 (-8); 2. Patrick Flavin (MU) -  69-71-67-75=282 (-6); 3. Johnny Watts (BSU) - 69-69-73-73=284 (-4); t4. Colin Joseph (UT) - 74-69-69-75=287 (-1); t4. Ian Holt (KSU) - 74-69-76-68=287 (-1); 6. Chase Johnson (KSU) - 73-72-70-74=289 (+1); 7. Tommy Nettles (OU) - 73-76-69-72=290  +2; t8. Peyton White (OU) - 75-74-69-74=292 (+4); t8.8 Kyle Rodes (EMU) - 69-71-75-77=292  +4; t.8 Salvador Rocha (NIU) - 77-70-74-71=292 (+4)

NIU INDIVIDUALS: t8. Salvador Rocha - 77-70-74-71=292 (+4); t19. Thomas DeMarco - 80-73-72-75=300 (+12); t26. Paul Schlimm - 73-80-76-73=302 (+14); t31. Jordan Less - 82-74-73-75=304 (+16); t34. Charlie Cameron - 81-79-70-76=306 (+18)