PUEBLO, Colo. -- Midwestern State's Keiton Hoster and Jake Doggett carded matching scores of 68 to lead the Mustangs in the opening round of the Farmers Insurance Samuel Proal Invitational Monday afternoon at the Pueblo Country Club.

The duo is among a group of seven players tied for eighth at 3-under just two strokes off of the pace of Texas A&M-Commerce's Zach Burch, who logged a 5-under 66.

Hoster and Doggett played a vital role in MSU's 6-under team total of 278 in the 36-hole tournament standing behind Oklahoma Christian (274/-10) and Colorado State-Pueblo (277/-7) on a warm and calm day for golf.

"There is a lot of risk and reward on this golf course," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "It's a great field and a great tournament. We played well today and hopefully we'll play a little bit better tomorrow."

The event is a preview for the 2022 NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional Championship which takes place on the same course next May.

Hoster enjoyed a strong start by firing birdies on his first two holes of the day and spread a team-high six birdies equally with three on the Front Nine and three on the back. 

"That's a great round from the No. 5 man," Ray said. "That shows how deep of a team we have."

Doggett rode a clean round almost all the way through the opening 18 holes. The Hutto, Texas native logged an eagle on the par-5, 595-yard sixth hole and added two birdies before taking a bogey on the final hole.

"Jake had a really good round, a solid 3-under," Ray said. "He gives himself a lot of opportunities."

Junior Garrett Leek provided a third quality score for the Mustangs logged a 1-under 70 totaling five birdies along the way to tie for 20th.

"Garrett was really solid," Ray said. "Sometimes, they shoot 1- or 2-under and make it look easy. Tomorrow, it's going to take a couple of guys to go way low to win."

Junior Mason Mikeska logged 15 pars to go along with a birdie and two bogeys to provide the Mustangs with their fourth countable score with a 1-over 72. He is tied for 36th individually.

Junior Jake Leatherwood tied for 73rd with a 5-over 76 in a round highlighted by three birdies.

Midwestern State is first off of the tee for Tuesday's round beginning at 10 a.m. (Central Time).

"A couple of teams will have a great round tomorrow," Ray said. "I hope we are one of them."
                

Farmers Insurance Proal Invitational

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	Total
1	Oklahoma Christian	-10	274	--	274
2	Colorado State-Pueblo	-7	277	--	277
3	Midwestern State	-6	278	--	278
	Texas A&M-Commerce	-6	278	--	278
	St. Mary's (Texas)	-6	278	--	278
6	Colorado Mesa	-4	280	--	280
7	Simon Fraser (B.C.)	-1	283	--	283
8	Colorado Christian	E	284	--	284
9	UT Tyler	+3	287	--	287
10	Fort Lewis (Colo.)	+4	288	--	288
	Holy Names (Calif.)	+4	288	--	288
12	Texas A&M International	+5	289	--	289
13	UC-Colorado Springs	+6	290	--	290
14	Western New Mexico	+7	291	--	291
15	Lubbock Christian	+9	293	--	293
16	Saint Martin's	+10	294	--	294
17	South Dakota Mines	+15	299	--	299
18	Cal State East Bay	+16	300	--	300
19	Colorado School of Mines	+23	307	--	307

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	Total
1	Zach Burch	Texas A&M-Commerce	-5	66	--	66
2	Darren Edwards	Fort Lewis	-4	67	--	67
	Andrew Ni	Colorado State-Pueblo	-4	67	--	67
	Bailey Bjornson	Simon Fraser	-4	67	--	67
	Edvin Backstrom	Holy Names	-4	67	--	67
	Tanner Lundgren	St. Mary's	-4	67	--	67
	Luis Martinez	Texas A&M-Commerce	-4	67	--	67
8	Jake Doggett	Midwestern State	-3	68	--	68
	Keiton Hoster	Midwestern State	-3	68	--	68
	Luke Dugger	Holy Names	-3	68	--	68
	Ryan Dixon	St. Mary's	-3	68	--	68
	Jamie Roberts	Colorado State-Pueblo	-3	68	--	68
	Alejandro Armijo	Oklahoma Christian	-3	68	--	68
	Andres Brictson	Oklahoma Christian	-3	68	--	68

  

Midwestern State Scorecard

T3	Midwestern State	-6	278	---	278
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Total
T8	Jake Doggett (2)	-3	68	--	68
T8	Keiton Hoster (5)	-3	68	--	68
T20	Garrett Leek (1)	-1	70	--	70
T36	Mason Mikeska (4)	+1	72	--	72
T73	Jake Leatherwood (3)	+6	76	--	76