Lions in 34th Place After Day One of NCAA Championship
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona men's golf team opened its run in the NCAA Division III Championship on Tuesday, as the Lions finished day one in 34th place out of 43 teams.
Tuesday's round was held at the par 72 El Campeon course at Mission Inn Resort and Club, and the Lions shot 328 as a team to take 34th on the team leaderboard. Penn State Altoona got off to a slow start, but the team rebounded later in the afternoon to move up several spots in the standings by the day's end.
"We had a little trouble settling in at the start of the round," said Penn State Altoona head coach Tom Koehle. "But I was proud of how our team rallied in the final five holes to salvage the round."
Carnegie Mellon University and Huntingdon College each held a share of the top score on the day with 287, while Methodist University is in third place with 292.
Andrew Ferguson (Altoona, PA/Tyrone) led the Lions in scoring on the day, shooting 4-over to tie for 54th place out of 221 individuals with 76. Logan Divald (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) fired a 79 to tie for 104th place, and Trey Heffelfinger (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) shot 80 to tie for 117th place.
Nathan Graham (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) and Jacob Carlin (Fayetteville, PA/Chambersburg) each shot 93 to round out Penn State Altoona's lineup.
"Andrew played one of his best rounds of the season. He battled and was rewarded with an eagle on No. 14, and he caught little bad break on No. 18, but I can't say enough about his ability to grind out a really good round," said Koehle. "Trey and Logan made a nice comeback on the back nine and gave us a chance to climb the leaderboard tomorrow."
Tomorrow's action shifts to a different course for Penn State Altoona, as the Lions will compete on the par 71 Las Colinas in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship on Wednesday, May 11 at Mission Inn Resort and Club. Tee times are scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m.
"We have an early start tomorrow," said Koehle. "Maybe we can take advantage of some calm conditions and make a dent in our deficit."
The field will be trimmed down to 18 teams and six individuals by the conclusion of Wednesday's round.
