GOODYEAR, Arizona – On a day that saw 16 of 20 teams finish under par — and 51 of 108 players shoot even-par or better — Midwestern State completed 36 holes on Monday in a tie with Simon Fraser for ninth place at 10-under through the first two rounds of the Palm Valley Classic at Palm Valley Golf Club.

The Mustangs enter the final round on Tuesday 15 strokes behind Chico State, which was the runner-up to Midwestern State at this tournament last year, but the Wildcats have a four-stroke lead over Colorado State-Pueblo atop this year's leaderboard at 25-under.

Marius Dosiere of Colorado State-Pueblo shot 8-under 64 in the first round and is atop the individual leaderboard at 11-under with a three-stroke lead over Nathan Nelson of Midwestern State, who shot 6-under in the second round. Nelson is in a four-way tie with Leo Lavalle (Colorado Mesa), Archie Wyatt (Colorado State-Pueblo) and Naoki Easterday (Chico State) at 8-under 136.

Nelson strung together five consecutive birdies to close out his second round and charged up the leaderboard. Nelson finished the round with eight birdies and had 12 in the two rounds combined. The sophomore from Gunter, Texas, also eagled the par-5, 515-yard second hole.

Hank Germany had six birdies in the first round on his way to a 1-under 71 in the first round, and the junior from Midlothian, Texas, had five more birdies during a 1-under second round. Germany birdied holes 2, 6, 14 and 18 during both rounds and is in a 10-way tie for 35^th place at 2-under.

Seth Bearden is in a six-way tie for 45^th place at 1-under. Bearden had seven birdies in his first two rounds, shooting even-par in the morning session and 1-under 71 in the second round.

Ryan Griff finished his day with back-to-back birdies, giving him three in the final round after carding six birdies during his opening round. The sophomore from Bulverde, Texas, is in an eight-way tie for 57^th place at 1-over.

Anniston McIlwain is one of seven players at 3-over and tied for 68^th place. McIlwain finished the first day with a birdie in each round.

Four programs from the Lone Star Conference are among the top-10, led by Cameron, which sits in third place at 15-under, tied with CSU San Bernadino. The Mustangs are one stroke behind UT Permian Basin and UT Tyler, which are tied for seventh place at 11-under.

Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa are tied for fifth place after shooting 12-under through the first two rounds.

Midwestern State had the fifth-most birdies through 36 holes with 41, eight fewer than Colorado State-Pueblo, which leads the field with 49 birdies. The Mustangs are the third-best team on the 10 par 4s at 1-under.

Chico State is the only team under par on the four par 3s at 2-under, and the Mustangs have the 12^th-best score on the par 3s at 10-over.

Midwestern State is one of three LSC schools at 16-under on the four par 5s, which is six strokes behind Chico State's 22-under on the longest holes. UT Permian Basin and Texas A&M International are matching the Mustangs on the par 5s.

The final round is scheduled to be played on Tuesday morning at the popular 7,035-yard course in the Valley of the Sun.