FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 24, 2006 Golf Lions earn spot in NCAA-II postseason Southern makes fifth straight regional appearance JOPLIN, Mo. - Missouri Southern's men's golf team will make its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Regional round, set for May 1-3. The Lions, who finished fourth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association this season, were one of five teams from the MIAA to earn a spot in the regional. Missouri Western, Washburn, Central Missouri State and Truman are joining MSSU in the postseason. The Central Regional Tournament, comprised of teams from the MIAA and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference is held as part of the Central/Great Lakes Super Regional. This year's tournament will be held at Prairie Bluff Golf Club in Crest Hill, Ill. The rest of the Central Region Tournament includes Winona (Minn.) State, Minnesota-Crookston and Bemidji (Minn.) State. Individual players from Southwest Baptist, Pittsburg State and Upper Iowa have also been invited to compete in the event. Eighty teams and 50 individuals from around the nation will be competing in the Super Regionals. The winning team from each region and the top individual player, regardless of region, not on an advancing team will move on to the NCAA-II Men's Golf Championships, May 16-19, at The Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, W. Va. CLIFFORD NAMED TO ALL-MIAA SQUAD: Also last week, the Missouri Southern men's golf team learned that one of its players received a postseason honor from the MIAA. Junior Tommy Clifford, from Overland Park, Kan., was named to the All-MIAA squad announced shortly after the conclusion of the conference tournament in Blue Springs, Mo. Clifford, who was unable to compete with the Lions during the fall portion of the 2005-06 season, led MSSU with a 75.9 stroke average this spring. In conference-sanctioned events, he averaged 75.5. The All-MIAA Team is selected based on a point system determined by the players' finish at the five conference-sanctioned events played this season -- two in the fall and three in the spring. The lowest scorer in each meet is awarded 10 points, while the 10th lowest is given one point. This is the ninth season the system has been used to determine the honorees. This season, 11 players were honored due to a tie. Clifford finished fifth at the first MIAA event of the spring, the Fort Hays (Kan.) State Invitational. He tied for sixth at Missouri Western and tied for 16th at the conference tourney last week. His finishes at FHSU and MWSU were tops among all Lion golfers.