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May 2, 2000

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

University of Wyoming junior David Hearn continues to contend for the 2000 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship being played in Palm Desert, Calif. Hearn shot an even-par round of 72 on Tuesday and is in sixth place heading into Wednesday's final round. He trails the leader, Nigel Spence of Colorado State, by five strokes. Hearn's 36-hole total is 142, two-under par, while Spence has posted a two-round total of 137, seven-under.

The Wyoming Cowboys fell back one spot on Tuesday to sixth place, despite shooting a team score of 298, which was four strokes lower than their score on Monday. UW was in fifth after Monday's opening round, but San Diego State moved six strokes ahead of the Pokes on Tuesday. Wyoming has a two-round total of 600. The Pokes are ahead of Utah (605) and Air Force (620). UNLV is the team leader at 566, followed by Colorado State (570), Brigham Young (576), New Mexico (584) and San Diego State (594).

Not only were UNLV (No. 9 in the nation), BYU (No. 10) and New Mexico (No. 11) all ranked in the Top 25 entering the tournament, but Colorado State (No. 38) and San Diego State (No. 41) were ranked in the Top 50.

Wyoming's Hearn finished seventh a year ago in the conference championship, and is once again within striking distance of the individual title this year. Another Cowboy who enjoyed an outstanding round on Tuesday was junior Jake Hunter, who shot an even-par round of 72, and enters the final round Wednesday in a tie for 21st.

"David (Hearn) continues to stay in contention," said UW men's golf coach Roger Prenzlow. "He'll need to put up a real low score tomorrow to have a chance for the title, but he's definitely capable of doing just that. Jake (Hunter) shot a nice round for us today, he played with a lot of savvy today and stayed within himself. But we just weren't able to get that third and fourth score today to hold onto fifth place.

"We knew that this would be a big day in the team competition. With this many nationally-ranked teams, you knew that people would step up. San Diego State put together a great round today, but if we can come back and have four of our five guys put up a good score tomorrow, we could jump right back ahead of them."

UNLV held a seven-stroke advantage over CSU after Monday's opening round. Colorado State cut into that lead by three strokes on Tuesday and enters the final round four strokes back -- 570 to 566. The team making the biggest move on Tuesday was BYU, which shot the low round of the day with a 280 for a two-day total of 576. BYU was 16 strokes out of the lead Monday, and enters Wednesday 10 strokes back of leader UNLV.

The 2000 Mountain West Conference Championship is being played at PGA West in Palm Desert, Calif., on the Nicklaus Tournament Course. The course measures 6,921 yards and plays to a par of 72. The third and final round will tee off on Wednesday, May 3 beginning at 8 a.m.

Team Standings

1. UNLV            280-286=566 (-10)
2. Colorado State  287-283=570 (-6)
3. BYU             296-280=576 (Even)
4. New Mexico      296-288=584 (+8)
5. San Diego State 308-286=594 (+18)
6. Wyoming         302-298=600 (+24)
   Utah            308-297=605 (+29)
8. Air Force       309-311=620 (+44)

Wyoming Players

David Hearn (Jr., Brantford, Ontario) 6th    70-72=142 (-2)
Jake Hunter (Jr., Page, Ariz.)        T21st  77-72=149 (+5)
Reid Lende (Sr., Livingston, Mont.)   28th   73-79=152 (+8)
Kevin Kayden (Jr., Fremont, Ohio)     T36th  82-78=160 (+16)
Mike Urbatchka (So., Sheridan, Wyo.)  T36th  84-76=160 (+16)