Olson Shoots 7-under as Bearcats move into 6th at NCAA Division III Preview

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

BOULDER CITY, Nev. -- Brock Olson (So., Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington HS) carded a 7-under par 65 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Preview on Monday, Oct. 30 at the Boulder Creek Golf Course. He ended the day tied for ninth place at 146 through 36 holes in the 54-hole event.

Olson's impressive round tied for the low round of the tournament so far. He led a strong day for the Bearcats, who moved up from 13th place in the team standings after the first round into sixth place after the second round. The tournament is being played on the Desert Hawk and Coyote Run courses at Boulder Creek, with nine holes on each course each day. The NCAA Division III Preview will conclude with the third round on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

On Monday, Olson recorded an eagle on the par-5 16th hole, earned five birdies, and had 12 pars on his way to shooting 2-under 34 on the front nine and 5-under 31 on the back nine. After shooting an 81 in the first round, Olson improved by 16 strokes to his 65 in the second round.

Joining Olson with an under-par round for the Bearcats on Monday was Oliver Smith (So., San Jose, CA/Pioneer HS) with a 1-under 71. Smith's round featured two eagles, as he carded a three on both the 13th hole and the 16th hole -- the two par-5 holes on the back nine.

Preston Lightle (Fy., Victoria, BC, Canada/Belmont Senior Secondary School) of Willamette shot a 5-over 77 in the second round to go with his 1-over par 73 in the first round.

Lightle concluded the second round tied for 24th overall while Smith was tied for 36th.

Also playing for the Bearcats were Alexander Papajohn (Fy., Parker, CO/Lutheran HS) and Jack McMullin (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS). Papajohn shot a 2-over 74 on Monday for an overall score of 154. McMullin carded a 76 in the second round and owned an overall score of 156.

The individual leaderboard after 36 holes was topped by Grayson Maddox from Sewanee (Tenn.). He matched Olson with a 65 in the second round for a two-day total of 9-under par 135. Cameron Cappuzzo of Methodist University (N.C.) held second place at 143 with back-to-back rounds of 1-under 71. David Zhang of Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) was third at 144 (75-69).

Five golfers were tied for fourth place at 145. They were Aidan Spampinato (74-71) of Methodist, Justin Chan (72-73) of Carnegie Mellon, Elias Malakoff (72-73) from Washington and Lee University (Va.), Tomas Amaya (72-73) of Babson College (Mass.), and John Kim (70-75) from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.).

The big tied for fourth was followed by a two-way tie for ninth at 146 between Olson of Willamette and Quinn Clifford from Illinois Wesleyan University. Olson's rounds were 81 and 65, while Clifford shot a 73 in each round.

Methodist was in first place at the end of Monday's round with a score of 584 (301-283). Carnegie Mellon was second at 589 (303-286), and Illinois Wesleyan was third at 590 (301-289). Washington and Lee was tied for fourth place with Sewanee at 591. W&L shot 310 and 281, while Sewanee earned scores of 297 and 294. Willamette was sixth at 600 (314-286) and Emory University (Ga.) was seventh at 602 (313-289). A total of 18 teams are competing at the NCAA Division III Preview.