LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Senior Robert Garcia fired a 1-under 70 and Midwestern State went 4-under over the last six holes to move into a tie for 10th place at the end of opening day of the NCAA Division II South Central/West Regional Thursday at the New Mexico State University Golf Course.

Garcia carded three birdies on the way to his seventh par-or-better score of the season to tie for 12th through the first of three rounds.

The top five teams and two low individuals not on an advancing team qualify to compete in the NCAA Division II Championships from May 21-25 at Orange County National Golf Club in Winter Garden, Florida.

Western New Mexico, the host institution, carded a 7-under 277 to take a four-stroke lead over Oklahoma Christian (281/-3). The Eagles are trailed by West Texas A&M (284/E) and Colorado Mesa (285/+1), while Dallas Baptist and California State-Monterey Bay are tied for fifth with 4-over tallies of 288.

The Mustangs slipped to 19th place early on the Back Nine, but junior Trevor Walsh led the surge with three birdies to go 2-under over the final six holes. Garcia and junior Gatlin Goad delivered five pars and a birdies over the stretch, while sophomore Seth Bearden went even to pull MSU to within seven strokes of fifth place.

At 1-under par, Garcia is three strokes back of the projected two low individuals on non-advancing teams with UT Permian Basin's Sangha Park and California State-San Bernardino's Chris Wardrup tied for second after carding matching 4-under 67s.

Western New Mexico's Joey Geary enjoyed the home cooking to fire an opening round, 6-under 65 to take the individual lead by two strokes.

Goad, who was 1-under over his final nine holes, is tied for 25th with a 1-over 72, while Walsh tied is tied for 75th with a 5-over 76.

Bearden tied for 84th with a 6-over 77, while senior Keaton Dickens logged an 8-over 79 to tie for 94th.

Midwestern State begins the second round Thursday morning at 11 a.m. (Central Time).
 

NCAA Division II South Central/West Super Regional

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Western New Mexico	-7	277	---	---	277
2	Oklahoma Christian	-3	281	---	---	281
3	West Texas A&M	E	284	---	---	284
4	Colorado Mesa	+1	285	---	---	285
5	Dallas Baptist	+4	288	---	---	288
	California State, Monterey Bay	+4	288	---	---	288
7	Chico State (Calif.)	+6	290	---	---	290
8	Simon Fraser (B.C.)	+8	292	---	---	292
	Colorado Christian	+8	292	---	---	292
10	Hawaii-Hilo	+11	295	---	---	295
	Midwestern State	+11	295	---	---	295
	California State, San Bernardino	+11	295	---	---	295
13	Sonoma State (Calif.)	+12	296	---	---	296
	California State, East Bay	+12	296	---	---	296
	California State, San Marcos	+12	296	---	---	296
16	UT Permian Basin	+13	297	---	---	297
17	Western Washington	+14	298	---	---	298
	Colorado State-Pueblo	+14	298	---	---	298
19	Stanislaus State (Calif.)	+17	301	---	---	301
20	UT Tyler	+19	303	---	---	303

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Joey Geary	Western New Mexico	-6	65	--	--	65
2	Sangha Park	UT Permian Basin	-4	67	--	--	67
	Chris Wardrup	California State, San Bernardino	-4	67	--	--	67
4	Arnav Arkanath	Western New Mexico	-3	68	--	--	68
	Will Musson	California State, Monterey Bay	-3	68	--	--	68
	Giulio Zanichelli†	Academy of Art	-3	68	--	--	68
7	Michael Crisologo	Simon Fraser	-2	69	--	--	69
	Leandro Mihaich	Oklahoma Christian	-2	69	--	--	69
	Exequiel Rodriguez	Oklahoma Christian	-2	69	--	--	69
	Oskari Nikku	Oklahoma Christian	-2	69	--	--	69
	Dylan Everett	Colorado Mesa	-2	69	--	--	69

 

Midwestern State Scorecards

T10	Midwestern State	+11	295	---	---	295
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T12	Robert Garcia (2)	-1	70	--	--	70
T25	Gatlin Goad (4)	+1	72	--	--	72
T75	Trevor Walsh (5)	+5	76	--	--	76
T84	Seth Bearden (1)	+6	77	--	--	77
T94	Keaton Dickens	+8	79	--	--	79