He went to Wyoming to play D-I golf; he’ll come home to Washington for the NCAA regionals

Former Blaine golfer Ryan Wallen will be coming home to the state of Washington to compete in the NCAA Division I men’s regional later this month. The NCAA announced Thursday that Wallen received an individual bid to one of six regional tournaments, making him the first University of Wyoming golfer since Gabe Maier in 2011 to advance to the national tournament.

The University of Washington will host the regional May 15-17 at the Aldarra Golf Club. The field will be comprised of 14 teams and five individuals. The top five teams and the next individual not on an advancing team will advance to the NCAA Men’s Championship, which will be held May 26-31 in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

“I’m happy for Ryan, and this is a result of the great year that he had,” Cowboys head coach Joe Jensen said in a release. “It shows that he’s one of the top golfers in our conference and in the nation. It will be a great experience for him to compete in his home state. He knows the climate and style of golf in Washington, and a lot of his friends and family will be there supporting him.”

Wallen, a senior averaging 71.89 strokes in 35 rounds this year, enters the tournament after finishing third at the Mountain West Championship last month and was selected to the All-Mountain West team.

This story was originally published May 4, 2017 at 11:37 AM with the headline "He went to Wyoming to play D-I golf; he’ll come home to Washington for the NCAA regionals."