Backed by shooting the low round of the day the Wilmington University golf team jumped to first place on the leaderboard after the second round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic/East Super Regional on Tuesday afternoon at Longaberger Golf Club.
The Wildcats were only one of two teams to shoot below 300 on Tuesday, shooting a 292 to jump Indiana (Pa.) for first place with a two-round score of 601. The team was trailing IUP by three strokes after the first round on Monday, but now lead the field of 20 teams by five strokes with one round to play. The top four teams advance to the NCAA Division II National Tournament later this month.
Sophomore Sam Clark, who moved up two spots on the individual leaderboard to take over the top spot by shooting a one-under 71, led Wilmington on Tuesday afternoon. He has a two-day score of 73-71 for a 144, even-par mark. He leads the field by two strokes with one round to play.
Starting on the front nine today, Clark birdied the fourth hole before bogeying the dreaded ninth to even the front nine at an even-par 36. He made the turn and fired a birdie on the par-five 10th before eagling the par-four 11th to quickly move to three-under on the day. After four straight pars, the sophomore cooled off with back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17 before finishing with a par on 18 to finish the back-nine with a 35, one-under score.
Joey Russo made a charge up the leaderboard on Tuesday, moving 21 spots after matching Clark with a one-under 71 on Tuesday. He is now in a tie for eighth overall with a two round score of 150, six-over par for the tournament. Russo birdied the second hole of the day before finishing the front nine with seven straight pars. After a bogey on 10, the freshman birdied 14, bogeyed 15, but then bounced back to birdie the par-five 16th to finish at 71, one-under.
Both Andreas Lunding and Jordan Lamb rounded out the Wilmington scoring on Tuesday by posting a 75, three-over par score.
Lunding was one-under after the first eight holes, but a triple-bogey ninth hole brought the junior to two-over after the front nine. He recovered to birdie 11 but bogeyed 16 and 18 to close the back nine with a 37, finishing the day at three-over. Lunding is tied for third in the tournament with a 72-75, completing day two with a 147, three strokes off the pace of Clark.
Lamb improved his tournament by 10 strokes on Tuesday with his 75, moving up 29 spots on the leaderboard to sit in a tie for 48th overall. Lamb's only miscue on the front nine was a bogey on four, while also only bogeying 12 and 17 on the back to finish at 75. He hit par on the other 15 holes on Tuesday.
Freddy Braun improved his day-to-day round by seven strokes, moving up 17 spots to sit in a tie for 60th overall after a two round score of 85-78 for a 163. Braun birdied holes two and four and finished the front-nine with a 37, one-over par score, but bogeyed four of the first five holes on the back-nine, finishing at 41, five-over for his 78.
IUP shot a 300 on Tuesday and is five-strokes behind Wilmington with a two-day score of 606. Charleston also shot a 300 on Tuesday to sit in third place, totaling a two-day score of 609. Le Moyne moved up a spot to fourth with a 304 while Millersville was the only other team to shoot sub-300, shooting a 295 to move up five-spots on the leaderboard.
Clark is two strokes ahead of IUP's Kenneth Sames, as Sames shot a 76 on Tuesday to finish with a 146. West Liberty's Mathew Iceton is tied with Lunding in third place, shooting a 73 on Tuesday to finish two rounds with a 147.
The Wildcats will be last off the first tee-box for the final round and are paired with IUP and Charleston. Braun will start the Wildcats off with a 12:50 tee-time, winding down to Sam Clark at 1:30 p.m.