Middle Tennessee, seeking its first appearance in the NCAA National Championship, is tied with Michigan State for 10th with a 4-under 564 after 36 holes. The top 10 teams from the East Regional advance into the NCAA National Championship, hosted by Purdue, May 28-31. The Blue Raiders won the 1965 National Championship but they were playing in the College Division at the time.

"All you can do is give yourself a chance on the last day and we have done that," said Middle Tennessee first-year Head Coach Whit Turnbow. "We are playing with the two teams right there with us (Michigan State, Duke) so it's a big day for our guys, our program and our University."

Georgia, the No. 1 overall seed, is running away from the field and stands at 32-under after two rounds. Augusta State is second at 13-under, followed by Auburn and UC-Irvine tied for third at 10-under. The fifth-through-10th place teams are separated by just four shots entering the final round.

Juniors Chas Narramore and Rick Cochran led Middle Tennessee with 1-under 70 performances in Friday's second round. Narramore is 3-under 139 and tied for 16th individually for the tournament. Cochran vaulted into a tie for 44th with his solid second-round showing and is even at 142 for the tournament. Kent Bulle was 4-over Friday and is even for the tournament, while Nick Bailes shot 2-over Friday and is 1-over 143 after two days. Freshman Jason Millard improved to 2-over Friday and is 6-over for the tournament.

"The conditions were a little tougher today and course played more difficult, but I believe we kept it together and now we have a great opportunity within our grasp," Cochran said. "Your goal in college sports is to play for a national championship and we go into the final round of the East Regional with that opportunity. It was our goal as a team at the start of the season and it's still right there for us. It's a great feeling but we have to finish."

As good as Middle Tennessee's position is, it could have been even better if not for a few mishaps along the way. Narramore ran into a double on No. 8 and the Blue Raiders lost four shots when Cochran and Bulle each bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18.

Perhaps a steady wind, gusting up 15 miles per hour, contributed as Friday's scores were up across the board for the most part.

"The temperature was cooler and the wind blew a little harder in the afternoon," Turnbow explained for higher scores. "We caught a break on the weather yesterday but that certainly wasn't the case today, but we made too mistakes down the stretch today regardless of the elements and we will get those corrected before tomorrow. We have to put that behind us because we are in the position we want to be, and I feel good about the guys and what they can do. I expect them to take care of business (Saturday)."

Narramore has been solid in his second straight regional. He has one bogey and the double in his first 36 holes and on a day when birdies were a premium he and Cochran combined for nine with Cochran coming in with five. Narramore played the back at 2-under 33 while Cochran played the front at 2-under 34.

"We needed a couple scores under par and we got them, but we just didn't much going at the bottom of the lineup," Turnbow said. "The good thing is as well as we have played we have not yet played our best round throughout the lineup. I believe that will be the case in our most important round."

Middle Tennessee will tee off, along with Michigan State and Duke, beginning at 7:05 (Central) Saturday.

NCAA East Regional
Council Fire Golf Course, Par-71
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Second Round Team Scores
(Top 10 advance into NCAA Championship, May 28-31)
1 Georgia 265-271 536 -32
2 Augusta St. 273-282 555 -13
T3 Auburn 281-277 558 -10
T3 UC-Irvine 283-275 558 -10
T5 New Mexico State 280-280 560 -8
T5 Mississippi St. 278-282 560 -8
7 UAB 287-274 561 -7
T8 UT-Chattanooga 282-281 563 -5
T8 Charlotte 281-282 563 -5
T10 Michigan State 285-279 564 -4
T10 Middle Tennessee 278-286 564 -4
12 Duke 286-282 568 E
13 East Tennessee 286-283 569 +1
14 SMU 276-295 571 +3
T15 Virginia Tech 281-291 572 +4
T15 Virginia 286-286 572 +4
17 Georgia St. 287-286 573 +5
T18 Western Carolina 285-289 574 +6
T19 Colorado St. 282-293 575 +7
T19 North Carolina St. 279-296 575 +7
21 Coastal Carolina 285-291 576 +8
22 Memphis 289-291 580 +12
T23 South Carolina 288-293 581 +13
T23 North Florida 293-288 581 +13
T25 Western Illinois 293-291 584 +16
26 Mississippi 293-291 584 +16
27 Jackson St. 302-334 636 +68

T10 Middle Tennessee (564)
T16 Chas Narramore 69-70 139 -3
T44 Kent Bulle 67-75 142 E
T44 Rick Cochran 72-70 142 E
T50 Nick Bailes 70-73 143 +1
T102 Jason Millard 75-73 148 +6

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