Feb. 26, 2000

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

In their first tournament of the2000 spring season, the Wyoming Cowboys placed 14th out of 15 teams at theLong Beach State 49er Collegiate Classic. Wyoming finished with a 54-holetotal of 926. Alabama-Birmingham won the team title with an 859 total. UABwas led to the team title by Daniel Ozley, who won the individualchampionship with a three-round total of 213, even par.

"We know a lot more about our games now," said Wyoming men's golfcoach Roger Prenzlow. "We made a number of mistakes, mostly because wehadn't been able to play outside much prior to this opening tournament ofthe spring.

"Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, the weather will allow usto get out on the golf course and get to work on our games. This same thinghappened to us last year. We went out to California early in the springseason and didn't play well, but we were able to bounce back and have a goodspring season."

In five of six fall tournaments, the Cowboys had at least oneindividual place in the Top 25. The Long Beach State Classic marked onlythe second time during the 1999-2000 season that UW failed to have anindividual in the Top 25.

Wyoming's top finisher was junior Kevin Kayden, who shot athree-round total of 229 to finish in a tie for 41st. Fellow junior DavidHearn was one stroke back of Kayden at 230. Hearn tied for 45th.

The tournament was played at the Virginia Country Club in LongBeach, Calif., on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 24 and 25. The course measured6,485 yards and played to a par of 71.

Wyoming's next tournament will be on March 13-14 at the PacificCoast Intercollegiate hosted by UC-Santa Barbara.

Below are the final team scores, as well as Wyoming's individualscores from the 49er Collegiate Classic.

Team Standings1.  Alabama-Birmingham              8592.  UC-Santa Barbara                8793.  Long Beach State                8864.  New Mexico State                8885.  Toledo                          8916.  University of San Diego         8987.  Santa Clara                     9038.  Texas-Arlington                 9049.  Cal State-Stanislaus            90610. Loyola Marymount                91111. Cal State-Northridge            91212. UC-Irvine                       91713. Utah State                      92114. Wyoming                         92615. Denver                          945
Wyoming IndividualsKevin Kayden (Junior, Fremont, Ohio)        T41st   73-75-81=229David Hearn (Junior, Brantford, Ontario)    T45th   71-79-80=230Reid Lende (Senior, Livingston, Mont.)      T61st   80-75-79=234Mike Urbatchka (Sophomore, Sheridan, Wyo.)  T74th   80-79-79=238Jake Hunter (Junior, Page, Ariz.)           78th    83-81-76=240