Oct. 11, 2005

Harrisonburg, Va. - After breaking a 54-hole, school-record by nine strokes in its last event with an 862, Western Carolina continued to re-write the Catamount record book today by carding an 845 at the James Madison University Invitational, a 17-stroke improvement. Western had its four scores Tuesday shoot par or better at the par 71 Lakeview Golf Course and the Cats finished the event tied for sixth. In addition to the team establishing a record, senior Blake Wray fired a one-under 70 in round three to finish with a 54-hole, school record 208.

Wray, who tied for sixth for his fifth career top 10 finish, bettered the previous school-record of 209, set by teammate Matt Cook in each of Cook's last two events. While Cook tied for 14th this week, missing the top 10 for just the second time in eight career events, the sophomore fired a 210 over three rounds, one stroke off his winning scores of 209 in his first two events of the season. Fellow sophomore Bill Forcier carded a 214 to tie for 28th, followed Matt Dowdy (218; 41st-tied) and Tripp Morrow (219; 48th-tied).

For Western, all five of this week's 54-hole individual scores rank among the school's all-time top 20.

George Mason, whose Mike Kirby fired a 10-under 61 today, won the 12-team field, firing an 836. Kirby also won individual medialist honors, firing a 16-under 197 over 54 holes. Liberty placed second, followed by host JMU, Drexel and Villanova.

Western Carolina will return to action Oct. 17-18 at the ECU Fall Pirate Invitational and wrap up the fall portion of its schedule Nov. 7-8, hosting its WCU Intercollegiate at Trillium Golf links in Cashiers.

James Madison Invitational
Par-Yardage: 71-6517
Dates: 10/10-10/11, 2005
FINAL RESULTS
Fin. School                 Rd1 Rd2 Rd3  Total
 1.  George Mason           279 282 275   836
 2.  Liberty                279 281 277   837
 3.  James Madison          285 276 278   839
     Drexel                 285 273 281   839
 5.  Villanova              288 283 270   841
 6.  Western Carolina       280 284 281   845
     Belmont Abbey          286 278 281   845
 8.  Delaware               281 284 283   848
     St. Bonaventure        286 282 280   848
10.  Longwood               291 284 277   852
11.  Cornell                298 289 283   870
12.  Canisius               295 294 291   880
Western Carolina Scores     Rd1 Rd2 Rd3  Total
T 5 Blake Wray               68  70  70   208
T 14 Matt Cook               68  72  70   210
T 28 Bill Forcier            70  73  71   214
T 41 Matt Dowdy              79  69  70   218
T 48 Tripp Morrow            74  73  72   219

© 2008 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | About Us | Advertise | Feedback | XML RSS Feeds