Valparaiso University men’s golf fifth-year Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) moved into the top spot on the player leaderboard with his performance in Monday’s second round of the three-day Gene Miranda Falcon Invite, hosted by Air Force at the par-72, 7541-yard Eisenhower Golf Course in USAFA, Colo. VanArragon will look to hold on for medalist honors as the third and final round takes place on Tuesday.

How It Happened

• VanArragon posted his second straight round of 67 (-5), moving into the top spot in a large field comprised of 120 players. He sits at 134 (-10) for the tournament with 18 holes to go. He owns a two-stroke lead on Jakub Hrinda of George Washington and Christoph Bleier of Colorado State, who are tied for second.
• VanArragon is joined in the top 10 by teammate Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield), who stroked a 71 (-1) on Monday to put his tournament score at 151 (t-7).
• The Beacons got a solid day out of Sam Booth (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel), who turned in a 73 (+1) to finish Day 2 at 147, third on the team and tied for 36^th overall.
• Valpo slipped to fourth in the 24-team field by turning in a team score of 289 to finish the day with a tournament score of 574. New Mexico State (568), Colorado State (571) and UC Davis (572) comprise the top three on the team leaderboard.

Inside the Round

• For the second straight day, VanArragon tied for the 10^th-best 18-hole low in relation to par in program history at five under.  
• The Beacons have drained 28 birdies in the tournament, led by VanArragon, who leads the entire field with 13.
• VanArragon birdied seven of the 18 holes on Monday including five of the back nine.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“Our shot execution was not as sharp today as it was yesterday. Our birdie production was slightly better today versus the first round. We still missed a number of good opportunities for birdie. Also, we played the Par 3s better at +2 as a team. We did not play the Par 5s well today at all, so we lost strokes to the field. We’re going to need to tighten up both of those areas tomorrow if we want to have a chance to win.”

“The team has done another terrific job in putting ourselves in position to potentially win a tournament. I’m really proud of the effort the guys displayed with this first tournament of the year and playing in some weather conditions that are different than the summer conditions that they have been used to for the past three months. We’re certainly going to need to make more birdie putts tomorrow. We’re going to have to take advantage of the holes with favorable pin positions and play smart on those that are difficult. We have a good game plan in place for tomorrow and we will look forward to it.”

Up Next

The tournament will conclude on Tuesday with the third and final round.