Feb. 21, 2002

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

Led by junior Kurt Kowaluk and freshman Jonathan Shuss on Thursday, the University of Wyoming men's golf team shot the third lowest score out of 20 teams and moved into 18th place heading into Friday's final round at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns Intercollegiate.

Kowaluk fired a two-under par round of 70, and Shuss shot a one-under par 71. As a team the Cowboys shot a second-round score of 290 -- 27 strokes better than their opening round of 317.

"We had a good talk after the first round on Wednesday and talked about coming out in the second round and competing," said UW head coach Joe Jensen. "We hit the ball well in both of the first two rounds, but we were mentally much tougher on the second day. The guys played the round one shot at a time, and didn't put up any big numbers. The first day, we let some bad holes get to us. Thursday, the guys really competed and stayed focused.

"The final round on Friday is one where we want to continue to improve, and try to move up the standings as much as we can."

San Diego State held on to it's lead in the team competition, despite shooting a second round of 295 -- five strokes higher than the Cowboys. John Lieber of SDSU also maintained his lead in the individual competition. Lieber holds a two-stroke lead over Kevin Haefner of Auburn, 136 to 138, heading into Friday's final round. The Aztecs lead in the team competition is seven strokes over Auburn, 569 to 576.

The tournament will conclude Friday on the Leilehua Golf Course, which measures 6,917 yards and plays to a par of 72.

Below are team scores and Wyoming's individual scores following Thursday's second round.

Second Round Team Standings

1.      San Diego State 274-295=569
2.      Auburn          288-288=576
3.      UNLV            289-290=579
4.      New Mexico      287-294=581
5.      Pacific         294-288=582
6.      Colorado State  295-288=583
7.      California      296-289=585
8.      UCLA            295-291=586
9.      Hawaii          288-299=587
        Arizona         299-288=587
11.     BYU             291-297=588
12.     Denver          297-292=589
13.     Hawaii-Hilo     295-298=593
14.     Utah            298-296=594
15.     Nagoya          306-291=597
16.     San Jose State  302-298=600
17.     UTEP            305-299=604
18.     Wyoming         317-290=607
19.     San Francisco   305-307=612
20.     Hawaii-White    330-312=642

Wyoming individual results         Cl.  Scores    Place

Mike Urbatchka (Sheridan, Wyo.)    Sr.  76-73=149 T42nd
Kurt Kowaluk (Lively, Ontario)     Jr.  80-70=150 T49th
Jonathan Shuss (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Fr.  80-71=151 T56th
Matthew Brunk (Fort Collins, Colo.)Fr.  81-77=158 T90th
Mike Mezei (Lethbridge, Alberta)   So.  82-76=158 T90th