DENVER -- Midwestern State flashed a bit of its potential in the opening rounds of The Writz at Mile High Monday at Bear Creek Golf Club.

The Mustangs rode the momentum of back-to-back eagles from Jake Doggett and Jake Leatherwood to stand in a tie at the top of the team leader board through the first 36 holes of golf.

MSU and Colorado Christian went stroke for stroke in both rounds with matching team totals of 292 and 284 for an even-par 576

"This is a team that has the ability to really go low," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "Our guys were really patient and willing to hit 4- or 5-irons. The rough was really high and not far from the native area where it is knee deep."

The Mustangs and Cougars share a six-stroke edge over a tightly-packed trio of squads including Colorado State-Pueblo (582/+6), Colorado School of Mines (583/+7) and Westminster (584/+8).

Doggett collected nine birdies on his way to logging scores of 72 and 69 for a 3-under 141 to stand third individually just two strokes off of the pace trailing Matteo Polla of Regis (139/-5) and Colorado State-Pueblo's Jamie Roberts (140/-4).

But it was his lone eagle of the day on the par-4, 312 yards No. 8 hole that got the Mustangs going.

It was followed by another eagle from Leatherwood, who is tied for fifth heading into the final round carding scores of 72 and 70 for a 2-under 142.

"That momentum carried us over," Ray said. "We did a pretty good job of finishing the round. We have guys that can really play and we could have been quite a bit better. We played well, but we weren't great."

Junior Garrett Leek followed an opening round 74 by going into the red with a 2-under 70 in the second round. He stands 11th with an even-par total of 144.

"Garrett didn't hit the ball great, but he putted very well to hang in there," Ray said.

Junior Mason Mikeska tied for 32nd with a 5-over 149 logging scores of 74 and 75, while freshman Ryan Hailey tied for 66th carding tallies of 81 and 79 for a 16-over 160.

Midwestern State tees off for the final round of The Writz at Mile High Tuesday morning at 10:20 Central Time.

"It's a good start," Ray said. "I'm hoping to have a great round tomorrow and finish it off with the win."
                

The Writz at Mile High

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Midwestern State	E	292	284	---	576
	Colorado Christian	E	292	284	---	576
3	Colorado State-Pueblo	+6	298	284	---	582
4	Colorado School of Mines	+7	297	286	---	583
5	Westminster	+8	288	296	---	584
6	UC-Colorado Springs	+11	294	293	---	587
7	Colorado Mesa	+16	299	293	---	592
8	Fort Lewis	+27	303	300	---	603
9	UT Permian Basin	+30	302	304	---	606
10	Dallas Baptist	+31	304	303	---	607
11	South Dakota School of Mines	+32	300	308	---	608
12	Regis	+34	305	305	---	610
13	West Texas A&M	+36	311	301	---	612
14	Lubbock Christian	+40	315	301	---	616

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Matteo Polla	Regis	-5	67	72	--	139
2	Jamie  Robers	CSU-Pueblo	-4	74	66	--	140
3	Jake Doggett	Midwestern State	-3	72	69	--	141
	Owen Corrimesser	Colorado Mines	-3	71	70	--	141
5	Liam Duncan	CSU-Pueblo	-2	73	69	--	142
	Jake Leatherwood	Midwestern State	-2	72	70	--	142
7	Adam Duncan	Colorado Christian	-1	74	69	--	143
	Jake Welch	Colorado Mines	-1	73	70	--	143
	Dylan Arthur	Colorado Christian	-1	72	71	--	143
	Xavier Bighaus	Colorado Christian	-1	71	72	--	143

  

Midwestern State Scorecard

T1	Midwestern State	E	292	284	---	576
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T3	Jake Doggett (1)	-3	72	69	--	141
T5	Jake Leatherwood (2)	-2	72	70	--	142
11	Garrett Leek (3)	E	74	70	--	144
T32	Mason Mikeska (5)	+5	74	75	--	149
T66	Ryan Hailey (4)	+16	81	79	--	160