FRESNO -- The No. 34 ranked men's golf team is in second place after the first day of play at the 41st Fresno State Lexus Classic.
BYU dropped from first place after the first 18 holes to a second-place finish after the second round. The Cougars (280-275--555) trail to first place Colorado State (281-271--552) by three strokes going into the final round. San Diego State, Texas Tech and Denver complete the top-5 team spots.
"It will be a shoot out tomorrow, but it's good to be in the hunt," head coach Bruce Brockbank said.
Leading the Cougars after two rounds is sophomore Oscar Alvarez, who is in fifth place 69-69--138 (-6). Alvarez's score of 69 ties his career low round score.
"It feels good to play a couple of good rounds today," Alvarez said. "It's my lowest score so far, so we'll see what happens tomorrow."
Freshman Jake Ellison is tied for sixth place (72-67--139), junior Todd Miller is tied for eighth place (71-69--140), Ron Harvey Jr. (69-72--141) and Clay Bingham (71-71--141) are tied for 18th place and Greg Machtaler is tied for 42nd place (71-74--145).
"We played well today," Brockbank said. "This young team is showing a lot of consistency and depth."
The Cougars are playing a six-man score-four format on the par-72 Belmont Country Club course, which measures 6,503 yards.
The Cougars are competing against a field of 15 teams including Cal State, Northridge, Colorado State, Denver, Fresno State, Long Beach State, Louisiana-Monroe, Nevada, Pacific, San Diego State, San Jose State, Texas Tech, UTEP, Utah and Wyoming.
Individually, UTEP's James Allenby is in first place at 11-under-par (67-66--133).
BYU will continue play with the final 18 holes to compete for the tournament championship Saturday.
Results
Top-5 Team Standings
1. Colorado State 281-271--552
2. BYU 280-275--555
3. San Diego State 285-272--557
4. Texas Tech 281-281--562
5. Denver 286-277--563
BYU Individual Scores
5th Oscar Alvarez 69-69--138 (-6)
T6th Jake Ellison 72-67--139 (-5)
T8th Todd Miller 71-69--140 (-4)
T18th Ron Harvey Jr. 69-72--141 (-3)
Clay Bingham 71-71--141 (-3)
T42nd Greg Machtaler 71-74--145 (+1)