April 23, 2002

NICEVILLE, Fla. - The University of Denver men's golf team dropped from second place to fifth following the second round of play today at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at Bluewater Bay Resort. The Pioneers shot an 18-over par 306 in the second round and are 26-over par (602) after 36 holes in the 54-hole event. The Pioneers trail leader South Alabama by 12 strokes heading to tomorrow's final round.

Denver's top finisher after the first two rounds is junior Shawn Wills (Northglenn, Colo.), who shot his second consecutive 1-over par 73 and is six strokes out of first place. Wills is in a group of seven golfers at +2, all trailing Jon Babich of New Mexico State, who shot the best round of the day with a 3-under 69 and is the lone player in the field under par after 36 holes (-4).

Next for Denver was junior Tommy Hart (Englewood, Colo.), who fired a second-round 4-over par 76 and is tied for 12th and freshman Barrett Jarosch (Edmonton, Alberta), who shot a 79 today and is in a tie for 23rd.

Defending individual champion Erik Billinger (Broomfield, Colo.) shot a second round 80 and is tied for 41st 18 strokes out of first.

The final round of the Sun Belt Conference Championships begins tomorrow, April 24 at 8 a.m. EDT.

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

Fin.	Team	Scores
1	South Alabama		298	292	590	+14
2	New Mexico State		295	299	594	+18
T3	Western Kentucky		299	300	599	+23
T3	North Texas		301	298	599	+23
5	DENVER			296	306	602	+26
T6	Arkansas State		303	301	604	+28
T6	Arkansas-Little Rock	305	299	604	+28
8	Louisiana-Lafayette	309	296	605	+29
9	Middle Tennessee		313	298	611	+35
10	New Orleans		318	310	618	+52

DENVER SCORES
5	Denver, U. of	296	306	602	+26
T3	Shawn Wills	73	73	146	+2
T12	Tommy Hart	72	76	148	+4
T23	Barrett Jarosch	74	79	153	+9
T31	Tony Giarratano	77	78	155	+11
T41	Erik Billinger	78	80	158	+14

...PIONEERS...