WINTER GARDEN, Florida – After firing a 5-over par 289 to open play in the NCAA DII Men's Championship being played at the Orange County National Golf Center, the Lee University men are tied for 14th in the 20-team field heading into the second round of play on Wednesday.

Oklahoma Christian and Colorado Christian wasted no time in jumping out to a sizzling 7-under 277. West Florida and Grand Valley State are tied for third at 5-under (279) while Cal State Monterey Bay rounds out the top five with a 4-under 280.

Tony Tao of Cal State Monterey Bay fired a red-hot 8-under 63 and is the medalist leader after round one. Manuel Cue of Grand Valley State is two strokes behind, 6-under 65. Twenty-eight players shot under-par golf in the opening round.

On the par-71 course, Lee's Bennett McNabb was the leader with an even-par 71. He is tied for 29th in the field of 110 golfers. Trey Melvin and George Cordall followed with a 1-over 72 and are tied for 43rd. Oliver Lewis-Perkins struggled with a 3-over 74 to close out the Lee scoring of the day. Wyatt Brackett finished with a 76.

The Flames will regroup and be back in action on Wednesday. Their tee time is scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m.

Coach Spence's Thoughts:

"The encouraging thing is that there were stretches where all five guys were playing well. Unfortunately, there were stretches where all five struggled as well. But there is still a lot of golf in front of us. Maybe both fortunately and unfortunately we kinda comfortable playing in this spot here the last couple of years. Nothing is set in stone after day one. Our best golf is still ahead of us and we will get it moving in the right direction tomorrow morning.