Oct. 28, 2008

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The University of Utah golf team tied for 14th place at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate Tuesday in Las Cruces, N.M. The Utes ended the tournament with a total combined score of 866 (304, 290, 292).

Chance Cota (San Diego, Calif.) remained the top performer for the Utes after the final day with a third-round score of 71 and a final score of 214. He tied for 12th place in the individual standings at one-over-par. Sophomore Derek Adams (Lake Havasu, Ariz.) moved up in the leaderboard standings, shooting a combined score of 217 (75, 72, 70) at four-over-par tied for 23rd place.

Sophomore Jeff Kitches (Salt Lake City) ended the tournament at 15-over-par with a score of 76, adding to his two-round total of 152 from Monday. Freshman Kaleb Mahanes (Erie, Colo.) also finished at 15-over-par tied for 68th place with teammate Kitches at a total score of 228 (79, 74, 75).

Rounding out the Utah roster with a total score of 230 strokes (81, 73, 76) was sophomore Mike Branca (Salt Lake City) at 17-over-par.

New Mexico State captured the top team position, scoring at total of 861 strokes (296, 291, 274) with Kansas State in a close second with a score of 869. On the individual leaderboard, Travis Reid of NMSU took the top position, shooting a total score of 208 at five-under-par.

The Utes close their fall season at the University of Hawaii's Kauai Invitational, which will be played Nov. 3-5 at Kauai, Hawaii.