UTEP Men’s Golf Captures Co-Championship at Gene Miranda Invite
Colorado Springs, Colo.- The UTEP men’s golf team tied for first place at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invite on Sunday in Colorado Springs, marking the second consecutive year that the Miners have won a tournament title.
UTEP also took first place at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate in October of 2015 in Las Cruces.
The Miners shot 290 as a team on Sunday and wrapped up the two-day, 54-hole event with a total of 863 (286-287-290). UNLV also shot 863 (296-283-284), with Colorado landing two strokes back in third place (284-289-292-865).
“I’m just real proud of how our guys played,” head coach Scott Lieberwirth said. “We had a few mistakes here and there, but all in all our guys competed extremely well. Hats off to UNLV for putting together a great round today. They played great coming from behind and tying with us.”
Sophomore Andreas Sorenson led the Miners, firing a seven-under-par 209 (68-69-72) and finishing second overall behind UNLV’s John Oda, who shot 10-under-par (70-67-69-206).
“He was huge, he was a rock for us,” Lieberwirth said. “He didn’t play poorly today but he just got beat by the kid from UNLV who had a great round and just passed him. For his first time playing this golf course, he played unbelievably well. For him to shoot seven-under-par in these conditions on a course he didn’t know, that’s phenomenal.”
Also placing in the top 10 was Frederik Dreier, who took seventh with 216 (77-70-69). Ben Getman shot 220 (73-73-74) to finish 16th, while Nicklas Pihl shot 222 (72-75-75) to tie for 19th place.
Prescott Mann tied for 30th place (73-76-76-225) and Chad Ahn tied for 77th place (81-80-76-237).
“We’re going to enjoy this win today and we have some good momentum to start off our season,” Lieberwirth said. “We’ve got a very important tournament coming up in two weeks in Albuquerque. It’s really big for us to have a good showing there. It was a great start, the guys are excited so we have some confidence.”
It was a stellar start to the 2016-17 season, one that will continue at the William H. Tucker Invitational Sept. 23-24 in Albuquerque.
