March 13, 2007

AIKEN, S.C. - Tyler Witman carded a 2-over-par 72 Tuesday to lead University of Maryland golfers with a tie for 12th individually at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate men's golf tournament hosted by the University of South Carolina-Aiken.

Witman finished the 54-hole event at 217, finishing rounds of 72-73-72 for the Terps. Hunter Bendall tied for 21st for Maryland at 221 after his final-round 74 on Tuesday.

As a team, Maryland finished ninth in the tournament, shooting 302 on the final day to finish at 890. The Terps were four shots behind Elon for eighth, but finished only nine shots out of fifth.

Host USC-Aiken won the team standings with an 861 total, firing a 280 team round on Tuesday.

Also for Maryland, Matt Schall tied for 48th at 228, while J.J. Occi was 81st at 243.

Roberto Diaz of USC-Aiken finished the tournament with rounds of 65 and 67 to win medalist honors with a 208 total. He won by two shots over Andre Thorson of East Carolina.

Maryland plays next on March 23 through 25 at the Furman Intercollegiate.

TEAM STANDINGS

1 South Carolina-Aiken 299 282 280 861 2 Virginia Tech 286 287 294 867 3 Nebraska, U. of 293 297 282 872 4 Charleston, Coll. of 300 290 285 875 5 St. John's Univ. 297 293 291 881 6 East Carolina Univ. 294 293 296 883 7 VCU 306 292 286 884 8 Elon University 292 294 300 886 9 Maryland, U. of 295 293 302 890 10 Furman University 295 302 300 897 11 Penn State U. 297 297 304 898 12 Belmont Abbey Coll. 305 303 292 900 13 Davidson College 301 301 299 901 14 Presbyterian College 293 306 303 902 15 Francis Marion U. 299 306 299 904

MARYLAND SCORES
T12. Tyler Witman 72-73-72--217; T21. Hunter Bendall 73-74-74--221; T48. Matt Schall 74-74-80--228; 81. J.J. Occi 84-83-76--243; Chris Gold 76-72-DQ.