WEST POINT, Miss. – Midwestern State finished tied for fifth place at the season opening Samuel T. Dunning Invitational at Mossy Oak Golf Club on Tuesday.  The Mustangs and Emmanuel (Ga.) finished at 26-over par through 54 holes.

Lee claimed the tournament title at 25-under par and won by six strokes over the "B" team from Lee, which is ranked No. 5 in the nation. 

Delta State, the host school, finished in third place at 18-over par, and the Mustangs were just one stroke behind Trevecca Nazarene in fourth place.

Ty Werynski of Delta State shot 9-under 207 to win the tournament by two strokes over Drew Zielinski of Lee in the individual competition.

Seth Bearden led the Mustangs at 2-over and moved up three spots on the leaderboard during the third round to finish tied for 12th alongside Preston Chabaud of UT Tyler. Bearden, who won the tournament last year, had 13 of the 41 birdies through 54 holes for the defending tournament champions.

Midwestern State was second-best on the par-5s at 17-under par. Lee was one stroke better than the Mustangs on the par-5 holes at the par-72, 6,967-yard course. 

Ryan Griff, competing as an individual medalist, finished alone in 26th place at 9-over par after carding a 6-over 78 on Tuesday.  Griff had three birdies in each of his first two rounds but did not card a birdie in the final round.

Nathan Nelson shot 8-over par in the final round and fell 13 places to 28th on the leaderboard with a 10-over par 226, and he tied teammate Anniston McIlwain, who moved up seven places with a 1-over par 73 in the final round.

Bryce Hoech finished with two birdies and just one bogey en route to his best round of the week and moved up 14 spots to 33rd place after a 1-over 73 put him at 12-over for the tournament. 

Hank Germany, one of 10 players to card an eagle during the tournament, moved up eight spots on the leaderboard with a 3-over 75 and finished 39th at 14-over par.

Midwestern State will next tee it up at the NCAA II National Preview at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada, on Oct. 6 and 7.

The Dunning Invitational

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Lee	-21	277	278	288	843
2	Lee (B)	+15	293	287	299	879
3	Delta State	+18	298	295	289	882
4	Trevecca Nazarene	+25	302	291	296	889
5	Midwestern State	+26	299	298	293	890
5	Emmanuel (Ga.)	+26	293	306	291	890
7	Montevallo	+31	294	303	298	895
8	UT Tyler	+32	290	309	297	896
9	UT Dallas	+34	294	296	308	898
10	Union	+42	299	308	299	906
11	Mississippi College	+44	298	309	301	908
12	Christian Brothers	+50	302	303	309	914
13	Spring Hill	+60	303	310	311	924
14	SE Oklahoma State	+65	323	303	303	929

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Ty Werynski	Delta State	-9	68	74	65	207
2	Drew Zielinski	Lee	-7	68	72	69	209
2	Matthew Render	Lee (B)	-7	68	71	70	209
4	Tucker Wick	Lee	-3	69	71	73	213
4	Alex Hamm	Trevecca Nazarene	-3	72	70	71	213
4	Noah Farland	Lee	-3	70	67	76	213
7	George Cordall	Lee	-2	70	73	71	214
8	Bennett McNabb	Lee	-1	72	68	75	215
8	Lukas Lautrup-Nissen	Emmanuel (Ga.)	-1	73	74	68	215
10	Peter Blazevic	Delta State	E	74	71	71	216

Midwestern State Scorecards

5	Midwestern State	+26	299	298	293	890
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
12	Seth Bearden	+2	73*	73*	72*	218
26	Ryan Griff (IND)	+9	73	74	78	225
T28	Nathan Nelson	+10	72*	74*	80	226
T28	Anniston McIlwain	+10	77*	76*	73*	226
T33	Bryce Hoech	+12	80	75*	73*	228
T39	Hank Germany	+14	77*	78	75*	230