COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Colorado junior Derek Tolan became the first CU player in 15 years to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Championships on Saturday, shooting a final-round 73 to finish with a 218 total, good enough for seventh place overall.

Tolan's finish was the best by a Buff in a regional since Bobby Kalinowski was the runner-up in 1994 in Oklahoma City. Prior to Saturday, Kalinowski was also the last Buff to qualify for a solo trip to the NCAAs, earning the trip in 1993 on the same course that Tolan and the Buffs played this weekend at Ohio State.

Tolan will be making the trip to the NCAA on his own after the Buffs missed the team cut, finishing 18th.

No. 19 Wake Forest led from wire-to-wire in claiming the team title, finishing with an 18-over par 302 for a tournament total of 879 (27-over). That easily bested No. 6 Oklahoma State (889) and No. 53 Illinois (891).

Colorado finished with a team score of 912.

Only the top 10 teams advanced to the 111th NCAA Championship Finals in West Lafayette, Ind., May 28-31.

It's the 14th time in school history a Buffalo qualified as an individual, and Tolan is the 12th different player to do so. Gary Polumbus (1962, 1963) and Rick Cramer (1979, 1982) earned two solo invites. The legendary Hale Irwin qualified by himself in 1967, and he went on to win the title at Shawnee-On-Delaware, Pa.

NCAA Central Regional

TEAM SCORES

1. Wake Forest 290-287-302--879

2. Oklahoma State 293-299-297--889

3. Illinois 298-292-301--891

4. Florida 294-300-300--894

4. Louisville 301-293-300--894

18. Colorado 301-303-308--912

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

1. Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State 70-69-75--214

2. B. Gielow, Wake Forest 69-72-74--215

2. Robert Rohanna, Penn State 75-70-70--215

4. Dustin Groves, Wake Forest 72-70-74--216

5. Trent Leon, Oklahoma State 71-74-72--217

5. Jorge Campillo, Indiana 71-73-73--217

7. *Derek Tolan, Colorado 73-72-73--218

8. Billy Horschel, Florida 73-76-70--219

9. *James Sacheck, TCU 74-76-70--220

9. Charles Ford, Tennessee 70-75-75--220

(*--qualified as individuals for finals; Sacheck beat Ford on second playoff hole to advance)

OTHER CU SCORES

T 59. Jim Grady 74-75-79--228

T 75. Luke Symons 77-76-77--230

T122. Justin Bardgett 77-80-81--238

T136. Michael Imperato 84-82-79--245