Wildcats make top five at Mustang Invitational

Josh McCollum earned his second golfer of the week award for the CCAA. Image courtesy: Chico Sports Information

Josh McCollum earned his second golfer of the week award for the CCAA. Image courtesy: Chico Sports Information

After prevailing at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational the week before, Chico State was ready to continue the momentum in the Mustang Invitational.

The Wildcats started off Monday at 10 under par in the morning round and a 9-under par in the afternoon round. This earned them a final score of 19-under par for the day.

Even with such an impressive performance, Colorado School of Mines was slightly above with a 21-under par giving them the lead in the tournament.

Wildcat Josh McCollum posted 8 birdies in each round which earned him an individual score of 12-under par. His second round score of a 65 has been the lowest round score since Lee Gearhart’s 65 that he posted at the 2015 InterWest Wildcat Classic.

Kelley Sullivan was the second highest scoring Wildcat and tied for 11th with a 5 under par followed by Christopher Colla who tied for 16th place with a 4-under par.

Jordan Oliver trailed behind and tied in 57th place with a 2-over par. Last but not least, Surge Kiriluk with a 6-over par, tied in 91st place, even though he started in 5-under par in the first 13 holes of the day.

As the windy weather conditions blew against Chico State’s efforts on Tuesday, Colorado School Mine’s flowed in the right direction for the victory.

Despite the Wildcat efforts at the beginning of the day, they were not able to score enough pars to keep their second place standings and allowed Western Washington to surpass them.

McCollum continued his high scoring tournament with a 1-under par performance which earned him a 12-under par score. He led the 120-player field with a score of 22. Sullivan remained tied for 11th place as he posted a final score of 5-under par. Colla dropped and tied for 42nd place with an even par and a final round 76.

Miraculously Kiriluk jumped 25 places placing him in a tie for 66th with a score of 3-under-par 69. Oliver placed 78th by posting a 3-over-par 75 and finishing off at a 5-over.

The Wildcats start their postseason journey with the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships scheduled April 23 and 24 in Seaside, California.

Lucero Del Rayo-Nava can be reached at [email protected] or @del_rayo98 on Twitter.