Washington, D.C. – After the first 18 holes of the Georgetown Intercollegiate, the Illinois State men's golf team is in third place, carding a team score of 298. Due to freezing temperatures and frost only one round was played, shortening the tournament to 36 holes of play. Freshman Trent Wallace led the way for the Redbirds, firing a 72, and placing tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard.
Head coach Ray Kralis described the adversity that challenged the Redbirds during the first round of play, as well as his expectations for the final round.
"The golf course is very demanding with challenging green complexes, so we knew it was going to test everyone at some point. The team did a nice job staying in the game and managing emotions," Kralis said. "We are sitting in a great position going into Tuesday, but it will be important to stay in the process of playing golf shots and not get caught up in the outcome."
Junior Kyle Meihofer shot just two strokes behind teammate Wallace, scoring a 74 and finishing the day tied for 13th place on the individual leaderboard. Senior Tyler Gentilella finished just out of the top-15 places on the individual leaderboard, carding a score of 75. Both junior Christian Crabill and sophomore Zach Burry finished the day tied, carding a single-round score of 77.
Out of the 12 teams competing, DePaul is in front with a total score of 295. Rhode Island (296) and Illinois State (298) are in second and third, respectively.
ISU opens the second and final round of play at 9 a.m., in hopes of moving up the team leaderboard during the last day of play.
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