On Tuesday, Illinois men’s golf advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 13th consecutive time.

Illinois finished second in the Stillwater, Oklahoma Regional on Tuesday behind Oklahoma State who shot 14 strokes better than the Illini. The regional consisted of three rounds in two days, due to inclement weather.

“In the morning we gave some away coming in,” Illinois head golf coach Mike Small said on Tuesday. “The morning round seemed tougher, obviously. But the weather kind of lightened up a little bit [in the afternoon] and to come out and shoot that score on the back nine is something I’m proud of. It shows that it can be done, but now we need to continue that mindset and come back in the third round and pick it up right where we left off.”

Illinois finished the first two rounds at 15-strokes under par but finished Wednesday plus-one overall. Not what Small was looking for, and it allowed Oklahoma State to take a commanding lead. Oklahoma State shot 11-under par to run away with the regional.

Illinois entered the second day just two shots back of the Cowboys, but the home course advantage seemed to propel Oklahoma State to a convincing third round.

Leading the Illini was junior Adrien Dumont de Chassart and graduate student Michael Feagles. Both shot five-under par, which tied them for third place overall in the individual standings. Sophomore, Jerry Ji went three-under par over the three rounds, which was good enough for eighth place overall.

“I thought our guys played from strength all day, and I think they stuck to their game plan and showed some discipline,” Small said on Tuesday. “Could we have hit it better in some instances? yes, but we saved shots when we didn’t [hit it well], and we competed. We played from strength and put pressure on the golf course a lot more than we have the last few weeks.”

Illinois and Oklahoma State headline a group of five schools to advance to the NCAA Championships. Joining the Illini and Cowboys are SMU, Sam Houston State and Arkansas Little Rock.

The NCAA Championships are at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona from May 28 to June 2.