Hot Springs, Va. - Kansas State senior A.J. Elgert wrapped up play at the 107th NCAA Men's Golf Championships Friday with a final-round 76 to finish in a two-way tie for 28th place at 8-over par 288.

It was the senior's second-straight over-par round after shooting 3-under during the first 36 holes.

"I played hard today, but I could never get into a rhythm and couldn't get the round going in the right direction," Elgert said. "It poured for about four holes and it just so happened that they were the four most difficult holes on the golf course. The wind also picked up and when you tack it all together it was difficult out there, especially during the morning."

Elgert, just the third Wildcat ever to compete at the NCAA Championships, finished 19 stokes behind individual champion Ryan Moore of UNLV, who won going away with a four-round total of 13-under par 237. Wake Forest's Bill Haas and Arizona's Chris Nallen tied for second at 7-under 273.

California used a final round of 1-under par 279 to overtake UCLA and claim its first ever NCAA men's golf championship with a combined team total of 14-over 1,134.

Teeing off on No. 1, Elgert carded a pair of pars to open his round before running into trouble on the third, fourth and fifth holes for the second straight day. This time he settled for three straight bogeys before bounding back to go par, birdie, par on the next three holes. However, Elgert soog gave back the stroke on No. 9 with his fourth bogey of the first nine holes.

Elgert did not fare much better on the back nine, despite opening with consecutive pars on 10 and 11 and closing out the round with pars on 16, 17 and 18. In between, he suffered bogeys on 12, 14 and 15 to finish up at 6-over, but was still please with his overall effort.

"My goals coming in were to make the cut and finish in the top 40," said Elgert. "Even though I would have liked to have played better down the stretch, I am really pleased with how I played overall. I played right with the leaders for the first two days, so it's kinda bittersweet right now. I feel like I should have played better the last two days but it was just not there."

And in exceeded his own pre-tournament expectations, Elgert said he could not think of a better way to end his collegiate career that to be competing at the NCAA Championships.

"This was a great way to wrap up my college golf career," Elgert said. "It was a great experience and the only thing that could have made it better would have been if my teammates could have been playing here with me."

2004 NCAA Men's Golf Championships

The Homestead Resort's Cascades Golf Course

Hot Springs, Va.

Par 70; 6,679 Yards

Individual Championship (Top 5 plus Kansas State)

1. Ryan Moore, UNLV, 67-70-64-66--267 (-13); T2. Bill Haas, Wake Forest, 70-68-61-68---273 (-7); T2. Chris Nallen, Arizona, 69-67-67-70--273 (-7); 4. Michael Putnam, Pepperdine, 74-65-67-70--276 (-4); T5. Travis Johnson, UCLA, 69-68-68-72--277 (-3); T28. A.J. Elgert, Kansas State, 68-69-75-76--288 (+8).