BEHREND FINISHES DAY ONE AT NCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Penn State Behrend men's golf team is tied for 28th place out of 41 participating institutions at the 2015 NCAA Division III Championships at the Grandover Resort & Conference Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.

After day one of competition, the Lions carded a team score of 312 on the par 72 west course (6710) and are 28 strokes behind the leader, Methodist who tallied a 284. Behrend is tied with Hope College.

Senior Scott Klein had his best first day at nationals, finishing even for the course with a 72 to tie for 15th overall heading into the second day. The senior was +2 after the first nine holes and managed two birdies on the back nine to get even.

Junior Nicholas VanDamia led the team with four birdies to card a 73 (+1) after the first 18 holes. He was even coming into the back nine holes and ended with a 37 for one over par and tie for 29th overall.

Senior Dante Vetica tallied a 41 going out and coming back he shot a 42 with one birdie on hole 16 for an 83 total. He finished +16 to tie for 180th place. Sophomore Cody Stinson was fourth on the team and tied for 187th with an 84. He shot birdie on hole 14 (395 yards) and tallied a 42 on the front and back nine.

The fifth golfer for Berhend, sophomore Brian Ropiecki, recorded a 92 (47-45) and was able to match VanDamia with a birdie on hole 13.

The Lions tee off tomorrow morning at 12:50 p.m. for round two of the championships on the east course (72 - 7200). Behrend must finish in 18^th place or better to move onto the final round.