LAS CRUCES, NM – The Western Washington University men's golf opened play at the 2024 West/South Central Super Regional of the NCAA Championships Thursday at University Golf Course.

 

Making their 25th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Regional Championships, the Vikings are tied for 17th place in the 20-team field through the first 18 holes of the 54-hole, three-day tournament on the par 71-layout on the campus of New Mexico State University.

 

WWU shot an opening team round of 14-over-par 298 to sit in a tightly-packed second half of the leaderboard. The Vikings head into the second round three shots back of the top 10 and 10 strokes back of the coveted top five to land a spot in the national championships.

 

Sophomore Peter Dionne-Yahr and junior Matteo Polla lead WWU in a tie for 45th place in the 108-player field following opening-round scores of 3-over-par 74. Polla recorded six birdies in his opening round to rank second-best in the field.

 

Juniors Ryan Ho and Cole Reynolds are tied for 62nd place at 4-over-par 75.

 

"Today was a bit of a bummer. We cam out strong and just let the round get away from us," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "It's too bad because the guys were close today. Nonetheless, we are not out of it with two rounds to go. Hopefully we can play solid tomorrow to give us a chance on Saturday."

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Regional host Western New Mexico holds the team lead at 7-under-par 277, four strokes better than second-place Oklahoma Christian (-3, 281). The South Central Region holds five of the top six spots on the leaderboard through the opening round.

 

Joey Geary of Western New Mexico is off to a strong start for individual medalist honors with a 6-under-par 65 on Thursday, with Sangha Park of UT Permian Basin and Chris Wardrup of Cal State San Bernardino two strokes back at 4-under-par 67.

 

Friday's second round begins with tee times at 7:30 am. The Vikings are scheduled to tee off during the afternoon wave at 12:30 pm MT/11:30 am PT. Fans can track the live scoring from the tournament via the Golfstat Live Leaderboard at wwuvikings.com/MG_Live.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from 2024 NCAA II West/South Central Super Regional hosted by Western New Mexico University at University Golf Course in Las Cruces, NM:

 

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2023-24 tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.

 

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 25 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season. WWU placed 3rd at the 2013 national championship for the highest finish in program history and made its 10th trip to the National Championship Finals in 2023 placing 15th. The program has produced 16 NCAA All-Americans and has won 11 of 16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 10 of 16 tournaments with Jordan Lee joining the elite list of conference champions in 2023 and nine GNAC Player of the Year awards.