Biola’s men and women’s golf teams returned to the course on Feb. 6 for the start of their spring season. The men played two rounds at the Cal State University San Marcos Fujikura Invitational while the women traveled to San Diego for the Point Loma Nazarene University Reach 2017. The men finished the day 14th out of 15 teams, while the women came in 10th of 15.

Over three months after their final fall tournament, which CSU San Marcos hosted on Oct. 24-25, Biola’s men looked to start the spring semester off strong. The Eagles shot a combined score of 328 in the first round, good enough for 13th place, but then dropped a stroke in the second round for a 329, adding up to a first day total of 657 and moving them to 14th.

Sophomore Austin Bishop led the effort for Biola, posting a first round score of 81 followed by a team-low 79 in the second round. He sits in 44th place out of 78 competitors. Freshman Kaden Page followed Bishop with scores of 83 and 80. Junior Samuel Shih posted an 87 and 80 for the day, sophomore Dominic Ariondo finished with an 82 and 90 and senior Kyle McAbee tallied an 82 and 90.

On the women’s side, the Eagles put up a very respectable 334 for their first day, putting them well within striking distance for a quality finish. Biola leads all National Intercollegiate Athletics Association and National Collegiate Athletics Association Division III schools excluding Cal Lutheran University, who sits a mere two strokes better than the Eagles.

Freshman Bella Larson finished day one with the best score for Biola, shooting an 80, good enough for 22nd in the 78-golfer field. Freshman Tori Roeske carded an 83, sophomore Mary Kamazes scored 85, freshman Jenny Zhang shot an 86 and junior Lauren Van Horn rounded out the Eagles with an 87.

Both the men and the women take to the course again on Feb. 7 to finish out their respective tournaments, with the women teeing off at 8 a.m. followed by the men at 8:30 a.m.