April 22, 2002

NICEVILLE, Fla. - The University of Denver men's golf team is in second place following the first round of play today at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at Bluewater Bay Resort. The Pioneers shot an 8-over par 296 in the first round and trail leader New Mexico State by one shot heading to tomorrow's second round.

Denver's top finisher following the first round was junior Tommy Hart (Englewood, Colo.), who shot an even par 72 and is two strokes out of first place. Hart trails Matt Lemma of South Alabama, who was one of just two golfers in the field below par for the day as he shot a 2-under par 70 and is in front of Jon Babich of New Mexico State, who opened with a 1-under par 71. Hart is in a group of three golfers two shots back.

Next for Denver was junior Shawn Wills (Northglenn, Colo.), who shot an opening-round 1-over par 73 and is tied for sixth and freshman Barrett Jarosch (Edmonton, Alberta), who opened with a 2-over par 74 and is tied for 12th. Denver is the lone team in the field with three golfers among the top-12 following the first round.

Defending individual champion Erik Billinger (Broomfield, Colo.) will have a tough time defending his title as he opened with a 6-over par 78 and is tied for 30th after the first round.

The second of three rounds of the Sun Belt Conference Championships begins tomorrow, April 23 at 8 a.m. EDT.

Sun Belt Conference Championships
Bluewater Bay Resort
Par: 72 Yardage: 6857

Fin.	Team	Scores
1	New Mexico State		295	+7
2	DENVER			296	+8
3	South Alabama		298	+10
4	Western Kentucky		299	+11
5	North Texas		301	+13
6	Arkansas State		303	+15
7	Arkansas-Little Rock	305	+17
8	Louisiana-Lafayette	309	+21
9	Middle Tennessee		313	+25
10	New Orleans		318	+30

DENVER SCORES
2	Denver, U. of		296	+8
T3	Tommy Hart	36-36	72	E
T6	Shawn Wills	37-36	73	+1
T12	Barrett Jarosch	37-37	74	+2
T27	Tony Giarratano	39-38	77	+5
T30	Erik Billinger	35-43	78	+6
...PIONEERS...