Story by JASON STRICKLAND, Sports Editor—

The Mules and the Central Oklahoma Bronchos are tied atop the MIAA golf standings going into Monday and Tuesday’s MIAA Championships.

The team that has a better finish will win the regular season title, while the tournament winner will get the automatic bid to the regional.

The Bronchos evened up the standings after winning the Missouri Southern Invitational this past Tuesday, while the Mules got second.

The Mules have won the past three tournament titles and the past four regular season titles.

Head coach Tim Poe said it won’t be a two team race for the tournament title.

“I just felt like all year long Northeastern State was a team to watch out for,” he said. “I felt like all year at some point they were going to step up and kind of show the maturity and the leadership they have.”

He also said Nebraska-Kearney and Washburn have a good shot at competing for the championship.

Nebraska-Kearney, Northeastern State and Washburn finished third-fifth at Missouri Southern.

Central had two freshmen, one redshirt freshman and two sophomores compete at Missouri Southern. Poe said he isn’t worried about having a younger team.

“The whole squad has played enough tournament golf that this isn’t overwhelming to them,” he said.

Sophomore Cy Moritz was an honorable mention All-American last season, and finished tied for third at the MIAA Championships last season.

Poe said Moritz is already a leader on the team.

“He’s got that mentality that most of the guys can look up to him and say, ‘He’s our veteran and has been here,’” he said. “He hasn’t been here that long, but he’s experienced it already.”

Redshirt freshman Teddy Jones competed in the second tournament of his career at Missouri Southern. He was fourth on the team and 14th for the tournament.

“I decided to kind of make a coache’s pick last week and mix it up and see if it changed anything,” Poe said.

He played instead of senior Jason Vann, who tied for 50th at Mizzou April 9.

The conference championships are at Paradise Point Golf Complex in Smithville, Mo. Poe said the team went to the course during spring break so the younger players could get a first look at it.

“Now we can go and play a practice round and really plot out our thoughts on how we really want to play it,” Poe said.