The Northwestern men’s golf team rolled into Iowa City, Iowa, this weekend with one thing on its mind – winning a fourth straight Big Ten championship.

But it wasn’t in the cards for the Wildcats, who ended their three-year title run with a fourth-place finish at Finkbine Golf Course.

“We came in with that mindset,” NU junior Scott Harrington said. “But I guess it just wasn’t our week.”

The 2002 season has been difficult for the Cats, who have not won a tournament this spring. But that did not lower their expectations going into the Big Ten tournament.

“I knew we were the underdog on paper, but I knew if we played well, we’d be good enough to win,” NU coach Pat Goss said.

After the first two rounds, the Cats were in their usual spot at the conference tournament – near the top of the leaderboard. NU was just four strokes behind favorite Purdue at that point.

But the Cats were unable to capitalize on their strong first-day performance, faltering in the last two rounds.

“The moral of the story is that our short games weren’t strong enough to carry us through,” Goss said.

While the Cats were struggling to stay at the top of the team standings, Harrington was cruising to a second-place finish, just two strokes behind Michigan State’s Eric Jorgensen.

Harrington fired a career-best 6-under 66 on Sunday, which was also the low round of the tournament and the best round of any NU golfer this season.

“I can’t say I’m disappointed,” Harrington said. “Well, maybe I’m a little disappointed I didn’t win.

“But they gave me a medal. It’s pretty nice.”

Harrington has been pleased with the direction his game has taken in the last month. This weekend’s performance was the junior’s second runner-up finish in three tournaments.

“Hopefully I’ll come through one of these days,” Harrington said.

Goss was impressed by Harrington’s ability to improve as the conditions got windier over the weekend.

“I was mostly happy for Scott, in the tough conditions, just to shoot such a low score in such an important round,” Goss said.

Coming in behind Harrington for the Cats were Chris Thayer, who placed 22nd, and Tom Johnson, who finished 27th. Bjorn Widerstedt, who was coming off a season-best eighth-place finish at last week’s Bruce Fossum/Taylor Made Invitational, finished 38th, and Casey Strunk placed 40th.

No. 64 NU’s fourth-place finish was enough to beat No. 27 Michigan State and No. 56 Ohio State. By beating the higher-ranked teams, the Cats have a virtual lock on an NCAA regional bid, Goss said. Seedings for the tournament will be announced today at 5 p.m.

NU’s finish ahead of Ohio State secured its spot in the top six in District IV, and beating Michigan State could move the Cats even further up the rankings.

The Cats have been on the bubble for a regional bid. The NCAA golf committee selects the top six teams from each district to compete in the regional tournament, to be held in two weeks in Little Rock, Ark.

The three regional tournaments – the East, the West and the Central – are also qualifiers for the national championships, which will be held later this month.

If the Cats are selected for the regional tournament, it will be their eighth consecutive appearance. And Harrington and the Cats would approach the regional tournament like any other – they would be out to win.

“We can do anything with the players on our team,” Harrington said.