Louisiana Golf Sits In Fifth After Day One At Jim West Intercollegiate

BASTROP, Texas – The Louisiana Ragin golf team bounced back from a slow start in the morning round to post the lowest team score of either round on Monday with a round of 5-under par (283) in the afternoon to finish the first day of the Jim West Intercollegiate in fifth place at the par-72, 7,205-yard Wolfdancer Golf Course.

"It was nice to see this team bounce back after a dismal first round to post a the lowest score of the day in the afternoon," head coach Theo Sliman said. "If not for a couple slip ups at the end of the second round, we could have come away with our low round of the year. We've put ourselves in a position tomorrow to compete for a championship. We're going to need a complete team effort if we want to come away in first place tomorrow. Hopefully we can continue to build momentum with the conference championship right around the corner."

The Ragin' Cajuns are four strokes back of first place Rice with two-round score of 2-over par (578). The Owls sit atop the leaderboard at 2-under (574). Southeastern Louisiana (-1, 575), New Mexico State (E, 576), UT Arlington (+1, 577) round out the rest of the top 5 teams.

Senior Fernando Cruz Valle is tied for fourth headed into the final round with a 36-hole score of 4-under (140). Cruz Valle recorded a 66 (-6) in the afternoon round posting a nine birdies with seven of the nine coming in his first 11 holes.

"Really proud of Fernando and the way he showed some leadership in the afternoon with his nine birdies," Sliman said. "To birdie half of the holes in a round is quite an accomplishment. Hopefully he can use his 66 from today to propel himself into a good finish tomorrow and then carry that over into the conference tournament. It would be good to see him leave a mark on this program in his senior year as he draws near the end of his career with us."

Ryo Harada of New Mexico State sits atop the individual leaderboard with a score of 8-under (136) after carding a tournament-low round of 65 (-7) in the second round.

Freshman Aron Juliusson used a second round 70 (-2) to climb into a tie for 17th at 1-over (145), while Ragnar Gardarsson also sits inside the top 25 in a tie for 23rd at 2-over (146).

Triston Elston and Thomas Strandemo round out the scoring for the Cajuns in a tie for 33rd at 4-over (148).

Louisiana is paired with UT Arlington and Oral Roberts for the final round. Play is scheduled to get underway at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start. Live scoring is available on BirdieFire.com.

For updates and info on Ragin' Cajuns golf, follow the squad on twitter @RaginCajunsGolf or check RaginCajuns.com.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Louisiana Golf Sits In Fifth After Day One At Jim West Intercollegiate

Players Mentioned

Fernando Cruz Valle

Triston Elston

Ragnar Gardarsson

Aron Juliusson

Thomas Strandemo

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