April 19, 2002

PROVO, Utah - The University of Denver men's golf team is in seventh place following the first 36 holes of play at the PING Cougar Classic at Riverside Country Club. The Pioneers shot a 12-over par 588 and trail first day leaders BYU, Colorado State, and Nevada, who are all tied for the lead at 7-under par (569). The Pioneers are 19 strokes back heading to tomorrow's final round.

Leading the way for Denver is junior Tony Giarratano (Castle Rock, Colo.), who blistered Riverside Country Club in his opening round with a 4-under par 68 and followed that with a second round 1-under par 71 to stand at 139 (5-under par) and in a tie for third place. Giarratano's opening round 68 was the third best first round in the entire field and he finished as one of just six players to break par in each of the first two rounds. Giarratano is five strokes behind Fresno State's Nick Watney, who is the leader after the first two rounds as he shot 68-66 -- 134 and leads by three strokes over his teammate Jonathan Echols.

Next for Denver was senior Erik Billinger (Broomfield, Colo.), who shot 74-73 -- 147 and is tied for 29th. Following him was freshman Barrett Jarosch (Edmonton, Alberta), who is tied for 48th after rounds of 74 and 77 and junior Shawn Wills (Northglenn, Colo.), who is tied for 50th after he shot 76-76 -- 152 and is 18 strokes behind the leader.

The final round of the PING Cougar Classic begins tomorrow, April 20 with a shotgun start for the final 18 holes at 8 a.m.

PING Cougar Classic
Riverside Country Club
Provo, Utah
Par: 72 Yards:6950

      Fin.   School                   Scores
         1   Brigham Young Univ.      282  287    569        -7
             Colorado State Univ.     284  285    569        -7
             Nevada, Univ. of         283  286    569        -7
         4   Fresno State Univ.       283  287    570        -6
         5   Texas El Paso, U. of     284  293    577        +1
         6   Wyoming, U. of           291  292    583        +7
         7   Denver, U. of            291  297    588       +12
         8   Air Force                294  297    591       +15
         9   Hawaii, Univ. of         283  310    593       +17
        10   Utah, Univ. of           298  300    598       +22
             UC-Santa Barbara         301  297    598       +22
             Boise State Univ.        291  307    598       +22
        13   Weber State Univ.        297  303    600       +24
        14   Southern Utah Univ.      300  302    602       +26
        15   Utah State Univ.         304  302    606       +30

DENVER SCORES

         7   Denver, U. of            291  297    588
      T  3    Tony Giarratano          68   71    139
      T 29    Erik Billinger           74   73    147
      T 48    Barrett Jarosch          74   77    151
      T 50    Shawn Wills              76   76    152
      T 71    Tommy Hart               75   81    156
T 33   ** John Hulwick        73   75    148
** - Individual player only (does not count towards team score)