PAYSON, Ariz.—The Utah Valley men's golf team is in third place, trailing leader UT Arlington (+2) by just three strokes, after shooting a 5-over-par 293 in the opening round of the WAC Men's Golf Championship on Friday at The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines.
 
The Wolverines sit in third place at 5-over-par 293 on the 11-team leaderboard. UT Arlington (+2) holds the top spot followed by Grand Canyon (+4) in second place.
 
"It was a solid start to the tournament," said Utah Valley head coach Chris Curran. "Dane and Ethan put together nice rounds. As a team we need to clean up some silly mistakes. We are in contention and that's all we can ask for at this point."
 
Dane Huddleston and Ethan Efford led Utah Valley in round one with scores of 1-under-par 71. The pair are tied for fifth on the 55-player individual leaderboard. 
 
Huddleston eagled the 500-yard par 5 14th hole. He also tallied three birdies, including two on the front nine. Efford had a near flawless round with three birdies and 14 pars in his opening round.
 
Zachary Erskine is tied for 17th after carding a 3-over-par 75 in round one. Erskine had two birdies and 12 pars on the day. 
 
Ryan Seamons is tied for 21st after shooting a 4-over-par 76 on Friday. Seamons eagled the par 5 14th hole. He also had three birdies and seven pars in his opening round. 
 
Kai Iguchi rounded out the scoring for the Wolverines with a 7-over-par 79. Iguchi is tied for 44th place on the leaderboard. He had a pair of back-nine birdies to go along with nine pars in round one. 
 
Utah Valley will continue play at the WAC Championship on Saturday at The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines. Pairings and live scoring will be available at BirdieFire.com.