Daniels, W. Va. – After a disappointing ending toast season’s Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men’s Golf Championship, the Wheeling University Men’s Golf team headed into this year’s event determined. As day one kicked off Monday, they used that as their motivation and ended the first 18 holes sitting in second place overall. Four of the Cardinal’s five golfers find themselves in the top 20 of the event as they put together a three-round score of 294, sitting one stroke out of the event’s top spot.

Of those four golfers, two landed in the top three of the event with Robin Duzmann leading the way. After taking second at the West Liberty Invitational, Duzmann kept the success going in the championships, shooting a 70 through the first 18 holes of play. That momentum carried over right from the start as he got back-to-back birdies on the first two holes of the afternoon to get out to a -2 start. He added back-to-back pars on holes three and four and had another birdie on hole five and after five holes he was sitting at -3. He would par on three of the final four holes and finished the front nine at -2. The back nine would see Duzmann continue his consistency, hitting par on each of the final nine holes to sit at -2 on the day. If is the fourth straight round that Duzmann has held one of the top two spots in the field and he looks to continue his success on day two.

Finishing right behind him was fellow sophomore Ryan Courtney, who sits in a tie for third with a 71. Like Duzmann, he also started on hole one and would hit par on the first two holes of the day. After Bogeying hole four, he evened his score back up with a birdie on hole five. He added one more par on hole eight and finished the front nine with a -1. As he moved to the back nine, Courtney kept his momentum going with a birdie on hole 10 and would add two more pars over the final nine holes. He would end the back nine with an even 36 and finished with the 71 on the day. It was one stroke lower than his season-best effort and until the final hole he was neck and neck with Duzmann. He and Duzmann look to continue their success as they battle for the top spot in the conference.

The final two top 20 finishes for the Cardinals were MJ Darmawan and Phillip Halvorsen. Darmawan, who competed in his first event of the fall, started things with a bang, finishing in a tie for 13th shooting a 76. He was consistent throughout the day, hitting par on 12 of the 18 holes, while birdieing on hole 15 to finish +4 on the day. Halvorsen would finish two spots behind Darmawan, sitting 15th shooting a 77. He would start strong, shooting a +1 on the front nine including two birdies, and finished with a +4 on the back nine to round out his day. The final golfer for the Cardinals was Luis Alvarez, who competed in his first conference championship events. He would finish in a tie for 41st in the field, shooting an 87 to round out the day.

Day two of the MEC Men’s Golf Championship is set for Tuesday, October 8th, with tee times scheduled for 8 AM.