MESCALERO, New Mexico -- Midwestern State's Galtin Goad and Ethan Dean provided team's highlights for the opening day of the RJGA South Central Shootout Monday at the Inn of the Gods Golf Course.

Each provided a low round, but the Mustangs had to settle for a seventh-place team showing through the tournament's first 36 holes on a deceptively difficult looking course.

"It's a golf course that looks really hard, but a lot of it is scenery," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "We played pretty well until the last seven or eight holes, but we just didn't finish well. The positive side is Ethan and Gatlin had really good rounds. Hopefully, we can build on that."

Goad, a junior transfer from Weatherford College, logged five birdies and an eagle on his way to a 5-under 67 in the second round after opening with a 1-over 73.

The Wheeler, Texas, native moved into to a tie for fifth place with a 4-under total of 140 and is four strokes off the pace of Western New Mexico's Joey Geary, who fired a pair of 68s for an 8-under 136.

Geary leads by one stroke in a tightly packed leaderboard over Colorado Christian's Adam Duncan (66-71 137/-7) while West Texas A&M's Santiago Caride (68-70 138/-6) and UT Permian Basin's Sangha Park (70-69 139/-5) remain in striking distance.

MSU senior Ethan Dean used a sensational run in the opening round with an eagle, four birdies, and a bogey to go 5-under between Holes 9-14 finishing the round with a 4-under 68.

The senior from Kaufman is tied for 16th with a 1-under total of 143 after carding a 3-over 75 on the second circuit.

Senior Keaton Dickens (74-74) is tied for 34th with a 4-over 148, while redshirt-freshman Hank Germany logged scores of 76 and 75 for a 7-over 151 to tie for 45th.

Senior Kevin Yang (77-77) tied for 53rd with a 10-over 154.

Colorado Christian tops the team leaderboard with a 10-under, 36-hole total of 566. The Cougars hold a four-stroke lead over West Texas A&M and Western New Mexico.

The third and final round of the RJGA South Central Shootout begins with a shotgun start Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. (Central Time).
 

RJGA South Central Shootout

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Colorado Christian	-10	285	281	---	566
2	West Texas A&M	-6	285	285	---	570
	Western New Mexico	-6	286	284	---	570
4	Colorado Mesa	-5	285	286	---	571
5	UT Permian Basin	E	288	288	---	576
6	Colorado State-Pueblo	+2	295	283	---	578
7	Midwestern State	+6	291	291	---	582
8	Fort Lewis	+8	301	283	---	584
9	Arkansas-Fort Smith	+15	297	294	---	591
10	Texas A&M International	+24	304	296	---	600
11	Lubbock Christian	+33	303	306	---	609

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Joey Geary	Western New Mexico	-8	68	68	--	136
2	Adam Duncan	Colorado Christian	-7	66	71	--	137
3	Santiago Caride	West Texas A&M	-6	68	70	--	138
4	Sangha Park	UT Permian Basin	-5	70	69	--	139
5	Gatlin Goad	Midwestern State	-4	73	67	--	140
	Xavier Bighaus	Colorado Christian	-4	71	69	--	140
	Victor Estas	West Texas A&M	-4	70	70	--	140
	Chandler Cooke	Arkansas-Fort Smith	-4	67	73	--	140
9	Adam Niles	Western New Mexico	-3	69	72	--	141
10	Colt Tenpenny	Colorado State-Pueblo	-2	73	69	--	142
	Jamie Roberts	Colorado State-Pueblo	-2	72	70	--	142
	Cole Beyer	Colorado Mesa	-2	72	70	--	142
	Timmy Cavarno	Colorado Mesa	-2	72	70	--	142
	Carson Kerr	Fort Lewis	-2	70	72	--	142
	Wyatt Provence	West Texas A&M	-2	69	73	--	142

 

Midwestern State Scorecard

7	Midwestern State	+6	291	291	---	582
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T5	Gatlin Goad (1)	-4	73	67	--	140
T16	Ethan Dean (2)	-1	68	75	--	143
T34	Keaton Dickens (3)	+4	74	74	--	148
T45	Hank Germany (5)	+7	76	75	--	151
T53	Kevin Yang (4)	+10	77	77	--	154