Dixie State’s men’s golf team moved up seven spots on the leaderboard to post a 10th-place finish at the 2017 Western New Mexico-hosted Visit Stockton Cactus Thaw tournament Tuesday at the Brookside Country Club in Stockton, California.
The Trailblazers posted the second-lowest team round in the program’s NCAA DII era with a season-best 9-under-par 279, which was 18 shots better than Monday’s opening 297 (+9), en route to an even-par 576 to finish alone in 10th place.
Two fellow Pacific West Conference members claimed the top-two spots on the board as California Baptist (286-278-564, -12) outlasted BYU-Hawaii (291-274-565, -11) by one shot to take home the team title, while Chico State (289-277-566, -10) placed third and Western Washington (291-276-567, -9) and Cal State East Bay (292-275-567, -9) finished tied for fourth overall to round out the top five.
Five DSU players combined to collect 20 birdies and one eagle on Tuesday, led by sophomore Nicklaus Britt (74-67-141, -3), who penciled in five birdies with no bogeys en route to a career-best 5-under 67 to jump 37 spots up the leaderboard to finish tied for 13th overall. Freshman Jimmy Avis (75-70-145, +1), who was playing in just his second collegiate round, finished with four birdies and an eagle on his way to a 2-under 70 to finish tied for 46th.
Senior Tyson Tanner (74-71-145, +1) also finished tied for 46th after he fired a 1-under 71 with three birdies on his card, while freshman Jayce Frampton (76-71-147, +3) birdied three-straight holes in a six-hole stretch to open his final round en route to a 71 to finish tied for 66th. Junior Dane Nelson (74-77-151, +7) co-led the team with five birdies Tuesday but could not overcome a few bad breaks as he posted a 5-over 77 to finish tied for 92nd.
DSU returns to Northern California on Feb. 27-28, to play in the Academy of Art-hosted East-West Golf Invitational.
Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.