GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Led by the play of red-shirt junior Bennett McNabb, the Lee University men's golf team was firing on all cylinders in setting a new school record for a 54-hole tournament with a total score of 834 (30-under par) in claiming the team championship in the 3rd Annual Mizuno Intercollegiate that was hosted by the University of North Georgia at the Chattahoochee Golf Course.
 
The final 834 total beat the school record that was set in the fall of 2015. Tuesday's final round of 271 was also the second-best ever posted by a Lee men's golf team.
 
McNabb finished with a 5-under par 67 on Tuesday to go along with his first rounds of 2-under 70 for a total of 207, which was good enough for a second-place finish. McNabb recorded seven birdies and only bogey during his Tuesday round. North Georgia's Jack Vajda walked away with the medalist honors with a 71-67-68 – 205.
 
Red-shirt senior Luke Stock tied for third and also featured a round of 5-under 67. He recorded six birdies and one bogey. Stock started with rounds of 68 and 72 on Monday for a total of 208. Caleb Tipton was up and down with rounds of 71-67-74 – 212 and tied for 11th. Drew Zielinski also did the same with his 71-75-68 – 214 while George Cordall gave the Flames a big lift on Tuesday with an eagle on 14 and a 68. He also had a couple of 74s for a 216 total.
 
The Flames edged out the host North Georgia team which finished two strokes back at 836. West Florida came on strong late and finished with an 844 while Lincoln Memorial University settled for fourth at 849 and USC-Aiken rounded out the top five with an 857.
 
A total of 16 teams and 90 individuals took part in the event. The Flames will continue fall tournament play on Oct. 7 when they travel to Albany, Georgia to take part in the Hurricane Classic.
 
Coach Evan Spence's thoughts:
 
"Could not be more proud of the guys this week. Always a tall order when you travel to the home turf of a great team like North Georgia, but our guys answered the call in a major way this week. That was one of the most fun final rounds I have ever been a part of, coming down the stretch battling with those guys and to get the job done in the end was the icing on the cake.
 
"Individually, I was extremely proud of Bennett for breaking through with a big runner-up finish. He has been working so hard these last several months and it has been awesome to see that pay off. It was another super week from Luke, finishing in the top five. We got great stuff from Caleb in his first start for us, especially in rounds one and two yesterday. George and Drew stepped up huge for us in the final rounds today with two rounds in the 60s. It was a total team effort across the board.
 
"We have got an awesome group this year and I am excited to keep rolling with these guys."