By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

ALOHA, ORE. -- Led by Ryan Kukula (Jr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS), the Willamette University men's golf team was tied for the lead with Linfield College at the conclusion of the first round of the Pacific Fall Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21 at The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club. Willamette and Linfield each carded a team score of 295.

Kukula shot a 2-under-par 70 and was tied for second place on the individual leaderboard. He was tied with Nick Johnson from Pacific University, who also shot 70. Kukula and Johnson were two strokes behind the leader, Jared Lambert from Corban University, who ended the round with a 4-under-par 68.

Kevin Kawasaki from Linfield was fourth with a 71 and Adam Bean from the University of Puget Sound was fifth at even-par 72. Willamette freshman Jacob Armelino (Redding, CA/University Prep) was tied for sixth place with a 73. Joining Armelino in sixth place was Dalton Durrell from the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Also in the top 12 for Willamette was Peter Mitzel (Fr., Red Bluff, CA/Red Bluff HS), who was part of a five-way tie for 11th with a 75.

Completing Willamette's lineup were Clark Wilson (Fr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS) with a score of 77 and Stephan Bartz (So., San Francisco, CA/San Francisco University HS) with an 83.

Willamette and Linfield shared a two-stroke lead over Puget Sound, which held third place at 297. Oregon Tech was fourth at 304, Corban was fifth at 307, Pacific was sixth at 310 and Lewis & Clark was seventh at 317. Linfield's second team was eighth at 323, while George Fox University was ninth at 331 and Trinity Lutheran College was 10th at 339.

The Pacific Fall Invitational will conclude with the second round on Sunday, Sept. 22 at The Reserve. Action will begin at 11 a.m. (PDT).