GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's golf team will look to continue their stellar start across international borders as the Mavericks head to the Shootout at PGA Riviera Maya in Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico for a 54-hole event to be played Sunday through Tuesday at the Tulum Country Club.
The Mavericks have won both of their first two tournaments and have posted three of their top five single rounds in program history early this season.
Tournament Details
The Mavs are one of 14 NCAA Division II teams, 12 of which are from the South Central Region, that will contest the 3-day tournament that will feature single 18-hole rounds each day. A non-NCAA "Team Mexico" will also contest the event.
The par-72 course is a Robert Trent Jones II design and hosts a PGA Korn Ferry Tour event. It is slated to play at 6,980 yards.
Live scoring can be found throughout the tournament by clicking here.
Recaps will be posted each evening on
www.cmumavericks.com.
The Mavericks are one of five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schools in the elite field, which will also include Colorado Christian, Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo and Fort Lewis. Seven Lone Star Conference squads who are also part of the NCAA Division II South Central Region will also compete. That list includes Lubbock Christian, Oklahoma Christian, Texas A&M International, UT Permian Basin, UT Tyler, West Texas A&M and tournament host Western New Mexico.
Cal State East Bay and Cal State San Bernardino will round out the NCAA field as representatives from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the West Region.
Last Time Out
Earlier this week, the Mavericks played host to and won the San Juan Intercollegiate presented by Timberline Bank at the Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose. The 54-hole event was played on Monday and Tuesday and saw the Mavericks emerge as the team champions from the field of 12 teams from nine institutions, a group that also included three "B" teams.
The Mavs' "A" squad posted a team score of 828, 24 shots under par, and won the tournament by five shots over West Texas A&M.
All five of the Mavericks in the team's main lineup finished in the top 20 of the individual standings, a group led by
Timmy Cavarno, who finished third with a final score of 204 (-9).
Freshman
Jacob Gonzalez also made his collegiate debut and led the Maverick "B" team. He tied for ninth place at 208 (-9) as the Mavs' secondary team placed tenth at 870 (+18), finishing ahead of Westminster by nine shots.
Full results can be seen here.
Recaps from both days can be read here:
MONDAY | TUESDAY
International Debut & Mexican Connections
This week's tournament will mark the first time in program history that the Mavs will compete internationally.
One of the Mavs' players in sophomore
Leo Lavalle will return to his native land. Lavalle hails from Queretaro, Mexico. Fellow Maverick sophomore
Inigo Badial also hails from Mexico (Guadalajara) but is not in the CMU lineup for this week.
The Mavs have had two Mexicans on their roster every year since the fall of 2020 when Yael Chahin (Queretaro) and Pablo Diaz (Guadalajara) joined the program as freshman. The graduated in the spring of 2024 before Lavalle and Badial joined the team that fall.
Chahin and CMU assistant coach Cole Beyer both earned full member stats on the Mexican Professional Tour (Gira Professional Mexicana) over the summer and currently rank 28
th and tied for 34
th, respectively, in the tour's
overall rankings through two tournaments.
In the Polls
The Mavericks were ranked 19
th in the first regular season edition of the
Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches Polll, released last Friday (Sept. 19). They had been receiving votes in the preseason edition.
The Mavs picked up 129 points in the top 25 polling of 22 member coaches.
Three-time defending RMAC Champions Colorado Christian are also still in in the rankings in the co-No. 14 spot. The Cougars received one first place vote after sitting eighth in the preseason edition of the poll.
RMAC rival CSU Pueblo is also in the poll in the No. 24 spot while Mines is still receiving votes as is West Texas A&M.
The Mavs defeated CSU Pueblo, Colorado Christian, Mines as well as No. 17 St. Mary's during the first tournament of the season.
North Georgia moved in to the No. 1 spot of the Sept. 19 poll, flip-flopping spots with preseason No. 1 West Florida. Georgia Southwestern, Central Oklahoma and Lee round out the top five.
Eight different schools received at least one first place vote.
The Shootout at PGA Riviera Maya field will include five teams ranked inside the current top 25 and four others in the receiving votes portion of the poll. That list of ranked teams includes No. 8 Oklahoma Christian, No. 14 (tie) Colorado Christian, No. 16 Cal State East Bay, No. 19 Colorado Mesa, No. 24 CSU Pueblo. UT Tyler, Mines, West Texas A&M and Cal State San Bernardino are all receiving votes.
Back-to-Back
The Mavericks have won both of their first two tournaments of the season, marking the first time in program history that the Mavs have won back-to-back tournaments.
In fact, the Mavericks have never won more than two tournaments in the same academic year, last doing so in 2022-23 when they won the RJGA South Central Region Shootout in the fall and the RJGA Palm Valley Classic in the spring.
In 2010-11, the Mavs also won two tournaments defeating host Adams State in a pair of dual-format events.
Historically Low Scores
The Mavs' team score of 828 at the San Juan Intercollegiate was the second best 54-hole tournament score in program history, trailing only the winning mark of 821 at last fall's Ryan Palmer Invitational in Amarillo, Texas.
The Mavs also posted scores of 271 and 270 in the first two rounds of the event, which are the second and third best single-round team scores in program history. A week earlier, the Mavs had posted a team score of 273 in the second and final round of the Travis Roy Memorial Invitational, which is now the fifth best in program history.
In relation to par, that 273 score was 15 shots under and the second best mark in program history. The 271 and 270 scores from last week were done on a par-71 course and were 13 and 14 shots under the par total of 284. Both of those are within the top seven rounds in CMU history.
Golfers of the Week
The Mavericks have also won both Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Golfer of the Week awards that have handed out early this season.
Dylan Everett won the initial honor on Sept. 18 after his individual win at the Travis Roy Memorial Invitational.
Timmy Cavarno claimed the Week No. 2 honor on Thursday after his team-leading third place finish earlier this week.
Stellar averages
Three different Mavericks are averaging below 69 ½ shots per round early this season while two others are at and just above 70.
Dylan Everett leads the team with a 69.20 scoring average in his five rounds while
Timmy Cavarno is third on the team with a 69.40 mark. Freshman
Jacob Gonzalez averaged 69.33 shots in his lone tournament of his career earlier this week to rank second.
Leo Lavalle (70.00) and
Luke Wagstaff (70.60) have also been in the lineup for both tournaments as has
Henry Starr (72.60).
The Mavs and Coach
Scott Sullivan will use the same lineup of Cavarno, Lavalle, Everett, Wagstaff and Starr as they have in the first two tournaments.
Tee Times
The Mavericks will play with Lubbock Christian, Colorado Christian and Cal State San Bernardino in the first two rounds of this upcoming tournament. They will be at the end of the playing order on Sunday with Starr leading the Mavs' off at 12:50 p.m. Action is slated to begin at 10:20 a.m.
On Monday, Starr and his group will get the day going at 8:30 a.m.
The third round pairings will be based on earlier results.
Up Next
A Maverick "B" squad will play on Oct. 5-6 at Bear Creek Golf Club in Lakewood, Colorado. The Colorado School of Mine is hosting The Writz at Mile High, which will be made up of "B" teams.
The Mavs will then wrap up the fall season sending their top golfers to the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invite in Amarillo, Texas on Oct. 14-15.
