ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Western Washington University men's golf team remains in 9^th place following the second round of the 2019 NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional Championships.
 
WWU had a five-stroke improvement from Thursday's opening round, turning in a 2-over-par 290 on Friday at The Ledges Golf Club in St. George, Utah. The Vikings are alone in 9^th place in the 20-team field at 9-over-par 585 through the first 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament.
 
The Vikings will head into Saturday's final round eight shots back of the current qualifying cut-off mark at 1-over-par, with the top four teams in the tournament receiving a berth to the NCAA Championships that will be played May 20-24 in Daniels, West Virginia. WWU is the No. 2 seed in the West Region and ranked No. 4 nationally after winning six of 10 tournaments during the 2018-19 season leading up to regionals.
 
"Today was a grind. After a little rain at the start, the weather ended up perfect we just weren't able to convert many birdies," said WWU head coach Luke Bennett. "We have absolutely nothing to lose going into tomorrow's final round."
 
Tournament host Dixie State holds a commanding nine-stroke lead over second-place Midwestern State, finishing the first two rounds on its home course at 11-under-par 565. Midwestern State is at 2-under-par 574, followed by UC San Diego (E, 576), Western New Mexico (+1, 577) and Sonoma State (+1, 577). Cal State Monterey Bay (-9) and Midwestern State (-7) and Colorado Mesa (-5) recorded low rounds on Friday to move up substantially on the leaderboard.
 
Senior Cody Roth (Bellingham, WA) continued his fine play in the regional with a 1-over-par 72 on Friday. Roth is tied for 26^th place in the 108-player field at 1-over-par 145 heading into the final round. He is tied for 4^th in the field parring 27 of 36 holes through the first two rounds.
 
Senior Nick Sparling (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman/Ohio State) backed up his 1-over-par 73 in Thursday's first round with an even-par 72 on Friday. He is tied with Roth for the team lead at 1-over-par 145 for the tournament, tied for 26^th place in the field.
 
Sophomore Brody Bonfilio (Boise, ID/Bishop Kelly), the 2019 GNAC Championships individual champion, recorded the lowest round by a Viking so far in the regional at 1-under-par 71. Bonfilio moved up to a tie for 32^nd place at 2-over-par 146.
 
Freshman Jordan Lee (Tacoma, WA/Bellarmine Prep) is tied for 61^st at 5-over-par 149 and junior Ethan Casto (Snohomish, WA) is 107^th at 20-over-par 164.
 
Chase Carlson of Colorado Christian holds the lead for individual medalist honors at 9-under-par 135, recording rounds of 67 and 68 through the first two rounds. Carlson holds a three-stroke lead over Spencer Wallace (Dixie State), Hayden Hui (UC San Diego), Blake Bourelle (Sonoma State) and Ben Constancio (St. Edward's), who are all at 6-under-par 138.
 
Saturday's final round begins with the first wave of tee times at 7:30 am MT, with the Vikings beginning their final 18 holes of the regional at 12 pm MT (11 am PT) off the No. 10 tee.
  Here is a look at the NCAA II West/South Central Super Regional leaderboard and WWU's individual results:
 

2019 NCAA II West/South Central Regional Championships The Ledges Golf Club  »  St George, Utah Par 72  »  7,145 Yards
Pos.	Team/Player	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
9th	Western Washington	+9	295	290	--	585
T26	Cody Roth	+1	72	73	--	145
T26	Nick Sparling	+1	73	72	--	145
T32	Brody Bonfilio	+2	75	71	--	146
T61	Jordan Lee	+5	75	74	--	149
107	Ethan Casto	+20	83	81	--	164
Pos.	Team	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1.	Dixie State	-11	283	282	--	565
2.	Midwestern State	-2	293	281	--	574
3.	UC San Diego	E	287	289	--	576
4.	Western New Mexico	+1	291	286	--	577
	Sonoma State	+1	287	290	--	577
6.	Cal State Monterey Bay	+3	300	279	--	579
7.	St. Edward's	+5	290	291	--	581
8.	Simon Fraser	+7	296	287	--	583
9.	Western Washington	+9	295	290	--	585
10.	Colorado Mesa	+11	304	283	--	587
	Colorado School of Mines	+11	299	288	--	587
12.	Stanislaus State	+12	304	284	--	588
	Chico State	+12	299	289	--	588
14.	Oklahoma Christian	+13	293	296	--	589
	Concordia (OR)	+13	303	286	--	589
	Cal State East Bay	+13	291	298	--	589
17.	St. Mary's (TX)	+17	303	290	--	593
18.	Arkansas - Fort Smith	+20	298	298	--	596
19.	Lubbock Christian	+29	311	294	--	605
20.	Holy Names	+33	302	307	--	609

The NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional Championships features live scoring updates via Golfstat for all three rounds of the tournament. Complete results will be posted to WWUVikings.com following the completion of each round.

• Live Leaderboard
• Final Round Pairings
• Tournament Central
• NCAA II Men's Golf Championships Program
• The Ledges Golf Club

Here are the tee times for the Vikings for Saturday's final round, with the Vikings going off the No. 10 tee starting at 12 pm MT/11 am PT. Times listed below are mountain time (one hour ahead of Pacific):

• Ethan Casto (12:00 pm)
• Jordan Lee (12:10 pm)
• Brody Bonfilio (12:20 pm)
• Nick Sparling (12:30 pm)
• Cody Roth (12:40 pm)                                                           

The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 21 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 9 of 12 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008, including the 2019 title. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 8 of 12 tournaments, including 2018 champion Ethan Casto and 2019 champion Brody Bonfilio.