HERSHEY, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall dropped from second
place into a three-way tie for 17th place on the second day of the
NCAA Division III National Championships. The Diplomats shot 324 on
the Hershey Country Club East Course for a 36-hole total of 622.
Despite the rise on the scorecard, the Diplomats lived on for the
final 36 holes.
The final rounds will play out on the Hershey Links, where the
Diplomats had surged to the front on Tuesday.
Andrew
Woods and Cameron Warner each shot 79 on Wednesday to pace
F&M. Warner is F&M's top player on the leaderboard in a
13-way tie for 30th place with a 36-hole total of 152. Woods is
tied for 107th place.
Jeremy
Rubin, in second place after 18 holes, is in a 13-way tie for
62nd. He shot 84 on Wednesday. Brendan
Mohler is tied with ten golfers for 89th place after shooting
an 82 today. Danny Liebowitz
shot an 84 on Wednesday and is tied for 130th place out of the 190
golfers that started the tournament.
The Diplomats are tied with Emory and Illinois Wesleyan
Universities for 17th, three strokes behind 16th place LaGrange.
Top-ranked Methodist University vaulted to the top of the team
standings. The Monarchs, who were in 12th place following Tuesday's
opening round, shot a two-over-par 290 at the Hershey Links for a
two-day total of 597, two strokes better than Huntingdon College,
which also shot 290 in the second round and is at 599 overall.
With temperatures in the mid 50's - 10 degrees warmer than
Tuesday's opening round - and light winds, average scores were over
two strokes better in round two compared to round one.
In the individual standings, Tain Lee of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Colleges maintained the lead after the second round, shooting 69 at
Hershey Links for a two-day total of 138 and a six stroke lead over
Mitchell Fedorka of the University of La Verne and Steven Strock of
Hope College (tied at one-over-par 144).
Guilford College is in third place in the team standings at 600
after shooting 297 at the Hershey Country Club East Course, while
first-round leader Skidmore College slipped to fourth after
following up Tuesday's 295 at Hershey Links with a 307 at Hershey
Country Club East Course. Otterbein College is fifth at 606
following rounds of 300 and 306.
Mitch Mercer of Susquehanna University turned in the tournament's
low round on Wednesday with a six-under-par 66 at the Hershey
Links. Mercer had six birdies and no bogeys in the round, and
climbed into a tie for fourth place with Chris Morris of Centre
College at 145, seven shots behind Lee.
The top 23 teams made the cut for the final two rounds of the
tournament, which will be held Thursday and Friday at Hershey
Links. In addition to the teams, individual players who advanced
were Lee, Mercer, Matt Burkhart of Messiah College (150, tied for
20th), Max Bonk of Pacific University (151, tied for 25th) and
Travis Gahman of Bridgewater College (152, tied for 31st). Gahman
defeated Chad Harvey of Monmouth College via tiebreaker to advance
to the third round, with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
The complete leaderboard is currently available on Golfstat.com.
Thursday tee times will be posted after the field is re-paired.
