Sophomore golfer Kyle Vasel finished day one of the Pepsi/SMS Challenge in a tie for 15th place to lead his Illinois State team to a ninth place finish at the Highland Springs Golf Course in Springfield, Mo.
Vasel (73-75) shot a day one score of 148, just four strokes behind current first-place front runners Mike Lewis of Northern Iowa, Jaime Frasier of Murray State, and Ross Hamann from Drake. Freshman Chris Eddy (76-73) also broke the top 20, finishing the day just one stroke behind Vasel with a score of 149, good for a tie at 20th.
Other Redbird competitors included junior Brian Anderson (80-72=152) who finished in a tie for 29th, junior Dustin Edwards (76-80=156) in 54th, and freshman Matt Maskel (76-82=158) who rounded out the squad in 65th.
In team competition the Birds finished day one of the tourney in ninth place after shooting a 301 in round one, and a 300 in round two. Oklahoma City University (293-293) currently sits in first place with a two-round total of 586, 15 strokes ahead of Illinois State.
The final round of the tourney is set to tee off Oct. 22, to decide the winners of the competition.
