BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University senior Ethan Casto holds a two-stroke lead after the first two rounds of the 2019 WWU Men's Golf Invitational played Monday in rainy and wet conditions at Bellingham Golf & Country Club.

 

Casto (Snohomish, WA) continued his early-season success with rounds of 3-under-par 69 in the morning and 5-under-par 67 in the afternoon. Earlier today Casto was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-Golfer of the Week after tying for 2^nd place at the Saint Martin's Invitational. Casto recorded 10 birdies on Monday, including six in the afternoon round, and has five consecutive under par rounds (four in the 60s) to open the season.

 

"Ethan held us together today and put together two great rounds in very tough conditions," said WWU head coach Luke Bennett. "He has had a solid start to the season, but even more importantly shown great leadership as our lone senior. I look forward to watching him on the course tomorrow."

 

Overall the Vikings are in 9^th place out of 18 teams at 17-over-par 593, but will head into Tuesday's final round on a positive note after moving up four spots on the leaderboard with a solid finish on Monday. In the rainy early round, WWU finished at 13-over-par 301, but had a nine-stroke improvement in the afternoon with a 4-over-par 292.

 

Sophomore Jordan Lee (Tacoma, WA/Bellarmine Prep), the 2018-19 GNAC Player of the Year, made his season debut and is tied for 41^st place in the 102-player field at 5-over-par 149 (77-72).

 

The Vikings entire squad of 12 players were in action on Monday, with seven WWU players also competing as individuals. Aidan Thain (Bellevue, WA/Sammamish/Colorado Mesa) is tied for 33^rd at 3-over-par 147 and Devin Andrews (Kirkland, WA/Juanita) is tied for 37^th at 4-over-par 148.

 

"We have a lot of room for improvement from today to tomorrow, but I liked the way we finished and with some better weather tomorrow, we'll go out looking to take it low," added Bennett. "They are a talented group, they just need to believe in themselves and go out and play the course like they do in practice rounds."

 

Dixie State University leads the 18-team tournament at 8-under-par 568, which included a 14-under-par 274 in the afternoon round. Dixie junior Spencer Wallace leads the Trailblazers at 6-under-par 138, two strokes back of Casto for the individual lead. Wallace carded the low round of the day with a 7-under-par 65 in the afternoon, a bogey-free round with seven birdies.

 

GNAC member schools Concordia (OR) and Simon Fraser are tied for 2^nd at 3-under-par 573, five strokes back of Dixie State heading into the final round.

 

The final 18 holes of the tournament begins Tuesday morning with a 9 am shotgun start. The Vikings will be paired with Hawai'i Hilo, Northwest Nazarene and Academy of Art, starting on holes 7, 8 and 9. More info on the tournament, including photos and links to the live leaderboard can be found online atWWUVikings.com/MGolfInvite.

 

Here is a look at the first and second round results from Monday's competition at the WWU Invitational. Tuesday's final round is scheduled to start teeing off at 9 am at Bellingham Golf & Country Club. The tournament Live Leaderboard can be tracked via Golfstat.com.

 

 

Fans can follow the WWU Men's Golf program online at WWUVikings.com/MGolf, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUGolf), Instagram (@wwugolf) and Facebook (@WWUMGolf).

 

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.