MEMPHIS, Tenn. (9/19/17) – The Arkansas State men's golf team climbed four spots to claim a runner-up finish at the Memphis Intercollegiate after shooting a final-round 283 Tuesday afternoon at the Colonial Country Club to end the 54-hole tournament with a combined score 869.

A-State finished one stroke behind tournament champion Middle Tennessee and three strokes ahead of third-place finisher Little Rock. The Red Wolves matched their best ever finish in the tournament, also earning a second-place finish in 2015.

The final round score of 5-under-par, 283 was the best of round turned in by any team throughout the course of the tournament and marked the lowest round of the year for the squad.

Junior Jakub Bares paced the Red Wolves on the afternoon with a 3-under-par 69, while senior Tanner Napier carded a 2-under-par 70 on the day. Napier finished the tournament in a tie for fifth place with a 2-under-par score of 214. Bares finished with a 1-over-par 217 to finish in a tie for 11th place.

“Nobody played better than us the last 25 holes of the tournament,” A-State head coach Mike Hagen said. “We played really well and really just dug ourselves too deep of a whole in that first round that we had to work all tournament to get back out of.”

Arkansas State began the day in a tie for sixth place and six shots behind the Blue Raiders, but quickly erased the gap with all five its players turning in scorecards with rounds under-par on the font-nine. Joel Wendin and Zan Luka Stirn finished their days at even-par as A-State pulled even with Middle Tennessee late in the day before the Blue Raiders birdied their final hole of the day to take the tournament title.

Competing as an individual, senior Kevin Kramarski, had a three-round total of 217 to finish at 1-over-par and in a tie for 11th place with Bares.

Other individual scores A-State included junior Trent Jones in a tie for 28th place with a three-day score of 222, while Wendin (223) tied for 30th and Stirn (225) placed in a tie for 35th.

“I really think things started to turn around for yesterday when that rain delay hit midway through the second round,” Hagen said. “We were struggling at that point and I think the guys realized where we were at and once we got back out there you could just see something change and ended putting ourselves into a great position headed into the final roud.”

Arkansas State will be back in action Oct. 9-10 at the Bayou City Collegiate Classic.

ARKANSAS STATE RESULTS Place, Name (RD 1-2-3—TOTAL) 1, Arkansas State (299-287-283—869) T5, Tanner Napier (72-72-70—214) T11, Jakbu Bares (75-73-69—217) T11, Kevin Kramarski (75-71-71—217)* T28, Trent Jones (73-75-74—222) T30, Joel Wendin (79-72-72—223) T35, Zan Luka Stirn (83-70-72—225) *Competed as an Individual