Daniels, W. Va. – After a strong start to the 2024 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men's Golf Championships, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team made history on day two. The team sits fourth overall with a two-round score of 602, and advanced to the team portion of the third day of competition for the first time since 2016. They have two golfers in the top five of the event and four in the top 30 as they compete for an MEC Championship on the final day of competition.

Leading the way for the Cardinals is sophomore Ryan Courtney, who sits tied for the top spot in the conference after 18 holes. He is shooting a combined 141, and dropped one stroke off his day one score to finish with a 70 in round two. The sophomore would start his day on the back nine and got out to one of the best starts of any player on the course, hitting birdie on holes 10 and 11 to start the day. After pars on holes 12 and 13, he came back with his third birdie of the day to sit -3 after five holes. He ended the back nine with four total birdies, getting the fourth on hole 18 and he hit the turn sitting at -3. As he hit the turn, he continued his consistency, with four pars to start the front nine. He would pick up his fifth and final birdie on hole eight and finished +1 on the front nine to stay -2 overall. He sits tied with West Liberty's Brogan Bennett and looks to stand alone at the end of day three.

The other Cardinal to sit in the top five after day two is sophomore Robin Duzmann, who sits tied for 4th at 146. Duzmann was able to keep his score sub 80, shooting a 76 on day two as he dropped two spots from day one. He would also get his start on the back nine and, after paring the first three holes, would run into trouble finishing the back nine at +5. However, it was time for a turnaround on the front nine, and he did just that with four straight pars. He would add two birdies on holes five and eight and finished strong with a -1 on the front nine. He was able to remain in the top five of the event, tying with West Virginia Wesleyan's Phillipe Van der Linden, as he looks to drop that score on day three. Duzmann and Courtney are both making pushes for All-MEC honors later in the spring and their final 18 holes could determine their fates.

The other two golfers to finish in the top 30 after day two were sophomores MJ Darmawan and Phillip Halvorsen. Both golfers shot an 81 on the day, but Darmawan maintained his one stroke advantage after shooting 76 in round one. Darmawan has an up and down day, but his best performance would come on the front nine. He picked up both birdies through the first nine holes and shot a +3 on the front nine before finishing +6 on the back nine. Halvorson would have a one stroke difference between his front nine score and back nine score, shooting a +4 on the front and +5 on the back, with his lone birdie coming on hole 13. The final Cardinal golfer was Luis Alvarez, who sits tied for 41st at 172. The freshman would take two strokes off his day one score, shooting an 85 in round two and had seven pars on the day.

Round three of the MEC Men's Golf Championship is set to begin on Wednesday, October 9th, with tee times scheduled for around 8 AM.