WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Oregon Tech used a strong second round to take a two-stroke lead into the final round after the first day of the Walla Walla Invitational Men’s Golf Cascade Collegiate Tournament at the Wine Valley Golf Club on Monday.
The Owls posted a 10-under 278 in the opening round on Monday to finish the day at 14-under 564. No. 19 Lewis-Clark State shot 10 strokes better in the first round than it did in the second and will enter the third round in second place. No. 11 British Columbia posted the low round (278) in the second round to pull within three strokes of leading OIT.
College of Idaho and Warner Pacific finished the day in a tie for fourth place at 584. Southern Oregon is one stroke behind them in sixth place and Walla Walla is one stroke behind the Raiders in seventh place. Corban in eighth place and Bushnell in ninth place both showed improvement in the second round of the day.
The individual title is set for a great battle between Lewis-Clark State’s Sondre Andresen and Oregon Tech’s Cayson VanBekum as both golfers concluded the day at 11-under 133. Andresen carded 12 birdies and an eagle in his pair of rounds, VanBekum carded a bogey-free 7-under 65 in the second round to catch Andresen for the lead.
Hunter Auramenko, playing as an individual for British Columbia, is in third place three strokes behind the leaders. Host Walla Walla is represented by Eddie Tache (139) in fourth place and Aneesh Kaura (140) of British Columbia round out the top five.
The final round is set for a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
MEN’S TEAM SCORES (Round 2 of 3) — 1. Oregon Tech 278-284—562; 2. LC State 277-287—564; 3. British Columbia 287-278—565; T4. College of Idaho 295-289—584; 6. Southern Oregon 290-295—585; 7. Walla Walla 295-291—586; 8. Corban 299-293—582; 9. Bushnell 299-296—595.
DAY 1 LEADERS (Top 10 of 50) — T1. Sondre Andresen (LC State) 66-67—133; T1. Cayson VanBekum (Oregon Tech) 65-68—133; 3. Hunter Auramenko (British Columbia-Ind) 69-67—136; 4. Eddie Tache (Walla Walla) 69-70—139; 5. Aneesh Kaura (British Columbia) 72-68—140; T6. Jake Houston (British Columbia) 71-70—141; T6. Manny Lalh (British Columbia) 71-70—141; T6. Carson King (College of Idaho) 72-69—141; T6. Alden Fay (Warner Pacific) 70-71—141; T10. Luke West (LC State) 69-74—143; T10. Ricky Reisner (Southern Oregon) 74-69—143; T10. Grayson Moore (Oregon Tech) 72-71—143; T10. Jack Tieman (Oregon Tech) 69-74—143.