Missouri State has been picked to finish third at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship in a pre-meet poll of the league's coaches.  The championship will be contested next Monday and Tuesday (Apr. 23-24) at the Kansas City Country Club in Mission Hills, Kan.

Defending champion Wichita State was a unanimous pick, receiving all nine first-place votes and 81 total points.  Illinois State is second with 71 points, followed by the Bears with 60.  Northern Iowa was picked fourth with 50, followed by Drake (46), Creighton (27), Evansville (25), Bradley (23) and Southern Illinois (22).

The Bears, who placed fifth a year ago, are led by all-conference senior Matt Sullivan, who is ranked seventh in the Valley with a 73.3 scoring average.  They are coming off a sixth-place finish at their last tournament, the ASU Indian Classic, where they defeated MVC rivals Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois.