Strong final round lifts UCCS golfers to 15th in Division I tournament

Ross McDermott shot a 4-under par 68 in the third and final round Sunday to help the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs surge past Division I Utah State and finish in a tie for 15th at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the U.S. Air Force Academyâ€^TMs Eisenhower Blue Golf Course.

The Mountain Lions were tied for 18th after the first two rounds on Saturday.

"It was looking gloomy after day one but I new the team was just too anxious to show the field we can play with them," said UCCS coach Phil Trujillo. "I told them to settle down and enjoy themselves."

The advise must have worked. Sunday the Mountain Lions shot 4-under par 284, the fourth-best round of the day, to surge into a tie with Northern Colorado and Wyoming. UCCS made up 15 strokes on Northern Colorado and seven on Wyoming in the final round.

Besides McDermottâ€^TMs gem, Eric Winder shot a final-round 69, Kyle Logan had a 72, and Trent Daum and David Hoffman each had a 75.

UCCS was the only NCAA Division II school in the 19-team field.

"It's not every day we get to play against competition this good," said Trujillo.

Xavier shot a tournament-best 273 in the final round to win the team tournament title. Colorado State finished second, California third and host Air Force was fourth.

Winder and McDermott each posted a three-round score of 2-over par 218 to finish tied for 29th individually. Xavierâ€^TMs Jason Kokrak won the individual title with a 12-under par 204.

The Mountain Lionsâ€^TM next tournament will be the Northwest Region Fall Head-to-Head in Minneapolis on Sept. 18-19, one of two qualifiers for the NCAA regional tournament.