TURLOCK, Calif. – The Western Washington University men's golf team battled back with a solid second round to move into a tie for 6^th place after the first two rounds of the 46^th Annual Hanny Stanislaus Invitational on Monday hosted by Stanislaus State at Turlock Golf & Country Club.

 

The Vikings were in 12^th place in the 17-team field after the first round, but battled back with a 3-under-par 285 in the second round.

 

WWU enters Tuesday's final round in a tie for 6^th place at 9-over-par 585, five strokes back of 2^nd-place Stanislaus State. Chico State holds a commanding lead in the tournament at 17-under-par 559 through the first two rounds.

 

After carding a first-round 300 (+12), the Vikings battled back with a 3-under-par 285 in Monday's afternoon round. WWU's five-player contingent recorded three rounds of under par in the second round, led by 2-under-par scores by seniors Nick Sparling and Cody Roth. 

 

Sparling leads WWU in the tournament in tie for 12^th place at even-par 144 through the first two rounds. Sparling is tied for 2^nd in the 91-player field with 10 birdies.

 

Freshman Jordan Lee is tied for 22^nd at 3-over-par 147, while junior Ethan Casto and seniors Michael Butler  and Cody Roth are tied for 37^th at +5 149.

 

Josh McCollum of Chico State holds a five-stroke lead in the individual medalist honors competition finishing the first two rounds at 10-under-par 134 with matching rounds of 5-under-par 67. 

 

The 17-team tournament field features eight teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation in the Golfstat Relative Team Rankings, with WWU entering the tournament at No. 4, Chico State No. 8 and Sonoma State No. 10. 

 

Tuesday's final round is scheduled for an 8:30 am shotgun start with WWU teeing off holes No. 3 (Sparling), No. 4 (Lee), No. 5 (Butler) and No. 6 (Casto and Roth). The final round can be tracked via Golfstat Live Result at WWUVikings.com/MG_Live.  

 

WWU's individual scores and the complete team leaderboard from the first two rounds of the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational are as follows:

 

 

WWU has won five of seven tournament so far in 2018-19, and has one regular-season tournaments remaining following the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational before the GNAC Championships that will be held April 22-23 at Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho:

 

                                                                       

The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 20 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, including a 3^rd-place finish at the 2013 national championship. The program has produced 17 All-Americans and has won 8 of 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 7 of 11 tournaments, including 2018 champion Ethan Casto.