By Sara Brooks, Assistant Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6219

BANKS, ORE. -- The WIllamette University men's team competed in the Pacific Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Quail Valley Golf Club. The Bearcats currently stand in seventh place in the team standings after Shane Adversalo (Sr., Honolulu, HI/The University Laboratory School) and Robbie Beard (Sr., Yankton, SD/Yankton Senior HS) each carded a 75.

Action in the men's tournament will continue tomorrow morning, Sunday, Feb. 28, with the first groups scheduled to tee off at 8:30 a.m. (PST).

Justin Ahrens of Northwest Christian University and Sean Hamer of Pacific University each carded a 71 to tie for the lead. Brent McKee from Northwest Christian and Tyler Nelson of Linfield tied for third at 73.

Three golfers are tied for fifth place, while Adversalo and Beard are tied for eighth place with four other golfers. Alexander Bennett (Sr., Sammamish, WA/Skyline HS) and Sam Church (Sr., San Carlos, CA/Sequoia HS) also competed for Willamette. Bennett shot an 82 and Church finished the round at 96.

Pacific University has a hold on the men's team lead with a cumulative score of 294 (6-over-par). Linfield College trails Pacific by just four strokes at 298. Central Oregon Community College and Northwest Christian University are tied for third at 309, with Corban College in fifth at 318 and George Fox University in sixth at 327. Willamette's team score in seventh was 328. Lewis & Clark College did not field a complete team.