CRESWELL, Ore. – Colorado State shot a 6-under-par 282 Saturday to overtake day-one leader and two-time defending champion San Diego State for the lead after two rounds at the 2024 Mountain West Men’s Golf Championship, which is being held at the par-72, 7,210-yard Emerald Valley Golf Club. In the individual race, Utah State’s Julio Arronte holds a one-stroke lead after carding a 6-under 66 in the second round.

Trailing the Aztecs by two strokes after the first round, the Rams saw all four counters score par or better Saturday. Christoph Bleier led the way with a 3-under 69 to push his 36-hole total to 4-under 140, good for a tie for fourth place. Connor Jones followed Friday’s even par-72 with a 2-under 70 to move up seven spots into a tie for 11th, while Matthew Wilkinson shot even-par 72 and is tied with Jones and three others at 142. Rasmus Hjelm shot a 1-under 71 in the second round and is tied for 16th at 1-under 143 for the tournament. After two rounds, CSU is a collective 10-under 566.

Arronte turned in the lowest round of the championship so far, with his 66 vaulting him 12 places into sole possession of first place with 18 holes to play. The junior from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, fired one of just two clean cards one the day, as he carded five birdies on the front nine before reeling off nine straight pars and closing with a birdie on the final hole. With two rounds in the books, Arronte is 7-under 137 and leads Fresno State’s Matthew Sutherland by a stroke.

Ranked 32nd nationally, San Diego State shot 2-under 286 in the second round and trails Colorado State by just two strokes at 8-under 568 as it strives to become the first team since UNLV from 2017-19 to win three straight MW Men’s Golf Championship titles. The Aztecs’ Shea Lague, who shared the day-one lead, shot 1-over 73 in the second round and enters the final round tied for fourth at 4-under 144. Tyler Kowack and Jackson Moss both shot 2-under 70s, with Kowack joining Arronte with a bogey-free day.

San José State and Utah State were the biggest movers of the day, with the Spartans carding a team score of 7-under 281 to move up four spots into a tie for second at 8-under 568 and the Aggies scorching the course for a 12-under 276 to climb five spots into fourth at 6-under 570.

SJSU’s Xuan Luo shot 3-under 69 to move up nine spots into a tie for fourth at 4-under 140, while teammate Caleb Shelter is tied for seventh at 3-under 141 after carding a 2-under 70. The Spartans are the only team with two players inside the top 10.

Sutherland carded a 2-under 70 to move to 6-under 138 and climb one spot to second place, while UNLV’s Caden Fioroni held steady at third with a 5-under 139 after a 1-under 71 in the second round.

Boise State’s Cole Rueck leapt 19 spots in the individual standings with a 4-under 68 in the second round, as he is now tied for seventh at 3-under 141. New Mexico’s Carson Herron and Nevada’s Jonathan Kim are also in the tie for seventh after carding a 1-under 71 and 1-over 73 in the second round, respectively.

In the team race, Fresno State and No. 20 New Mexico are tied for fifth at 4-under 572. UNLV (575), Nevada (578), Wyoming (581), Boise State (582) and Air Force (602) round out the standings.

Tee times for the final 18 holes begin at 8 a.m. PT Sunday, with Air Force and Boise State paired together. Wyoming and Nevada go off at 8:40, followed by UNLV and New Mexico at 9:20, Fresno State and Utah State at 10:00 and San José State, San Diego State and Colorado State at 10:40. Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.

HOW TO WATCH

All three rounds will be streamed live on GolfKast via GKLive.TV. GKLive will livestream each day of the tournament, from the tee-off of the first group through the completion of the final group, providing coverage with 20 cameras on select holes. Hole 18 will include live play-by-play each day from 12-3 p.m. PT. Jesse Kurtz of the Mountain West Network and Golfweek writer Lance Ringler will be on the call.

Viewers must sign up for a free account on the home page to watch the event. The event home page can be found here.

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