SAGINAW, Mich. -- The Wayne State University men's golf program claimed first-place honors on Sunday at Saginaw Valley State's Al Watrous Invitational to begin the 2024-25 season.  The Warriors' "B" team finished atop the 14-squad leaderboard (573, -3) while the "A" group was right behind them as the runner-up (581, +5).

"What an outstanding finish today," said head coach Mike Horn.  "If you scripted a perfect day, today was just that.  Congratulations to Max (Leppelmeier) on a runner-up finish and to Mat, Josh and Luc for finishing in the top five.  Everyone played really solid today and we are going to have a very difficult time figuring out who is our actual top five week to week, but that is a great problem to have.  I'm super proud of everybody, especially our newcomers and our veterans for coming through today."

Wayne State Individuals (of 74 total)
"B" Team
T3.  Luc Warnock, -1 (143, 72-71)
T3.  Mat Hawryluk, -1 (143, 74-69)
T11.  Shawn Sehra, +2 (146, 73-73)
T11.  Ian Smith, +2 (146, 76-70)
T14.  Adam Burghardt, +3 (147, 71-76)

"A" Team
2.  Max Leppelmeier, -2 (142, 75-67)
T3.  Josh DiCarlo, -1 (143, 72-71)
T17.  Tyler Hurtubise, +4 (148, 76-72)
T21.  Andrew Daily, +5 (149, 75-74)
T30.  Josh Lahner, +7 (151, 75-76)

Smith saw the most improvement leaderboard wise from round one to round two moving up 19 spots on Sunday.  Also ascending double-digit slots for the Warriors were Leppelmeier with 17, Hurtubise with 13 and and Hawryluk with 10.  As for Warnock, Wayne State's lone newcomer competing in this tournament, the fifth-year veteran achieved the highest placing of his career.

The Hillsdale Invitational, Wayne State's second tournament of the fall, will come on Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 16-17 at The Cardinal at Saint John's in Plymouth, Mich.