Richmond, Ky. – True freshman Jake Peacock claimed individual medalist honors in his collegiate debut to lead a trio of Catamounts inside the Top 10 as Western Carolina men's golf cruised to an 11-stroke victory in the season-opening EKU Intercollegiate concluded Saturday at par-70, 6,653-yard University Club at Arlington.
 
Peacock matched a program record-low, 54-hole score of 200 (67-67-66) established by Catamount student-athlete alum Dylan MacQueen (71-67-62) at the Phoenix Intercollegiate back in fall 2017. His classmate Kyle Kushnir, who shared the lead entering Saturday's final round, finished fourth with a score of 205, with junior Magnus Pedersen coming home in a tie for sixth at 208.
 
WCU fired a three-round team score of 15-under par 825 (271-279-275) to pull away over the final 18 holes to edge runner-up Dayton (836, -4) and third-place Jacksonville State (838, -3). Morehead State climbed one spot to finish fourth overall at 844, with tournament host Eastern Kentucky sliding to fifth with a score of 850.
 
The team championship is WCU's third under head coach Tim Eckberg and the first since 2017. WCU won twice in the 2016-17 season, once in the fall and spring portions of the schedule.
 
"These guys, this team, I'm just so proud of them," said Eckberg following Saturday's awards ceremony after his squad's championship. "I've never had a group of guys like this. All eight have been all-in for each other and all about the end game. They went out and earned this win this weekend."
 
Eckberg continued, "It's great, and we are going to enjoy this team and individual championship. But, this is just the start. This group can accomplish anything. I'm excited to see the steps that we make from here."
 
Peacock made the turn for home at 1-under par on Saturday, posting a pair of birdies on the second and fourth holes before a bogey on the par-4 sixth. The Milton, Ga., native came home with six pars and three birdies to claim the individual two-stroke victory. Peacock was fourth with 14 combined birdies in his first collegiate event.
 
Kushnir moved to 2-under par through 13 holes on Saturday before a bogey on No. 13 and a double-bogey on No. 17 relegated him to fourth in the standings with a final-round 1-over par 71. A product of Raleigh, N.C., Kushnir finished with a dozen birdies in his debut. Pedersen countered a double-bogey with three birdies on the front nine, adding a fourth birdie on the par-5 12th to climb two spots into a tie for sixth in the final standings.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were senior Tumi Kúld, up four spots into a tie for 22nd with a 213, while sophomore Presten Richardson moved up five spots into a tie for 65th overall with a final round score of 72. Kúld was even-par over the final round with a trio of birdies while Richardson had four birdies against six bogeys on Saturday.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, senior Louis Theys posted an even-par final round of 70 to shoot 213, climbing four spots into a tie with classmate Kúld after also charting three birdies over the last 18 holes.
 
Western Carolina led the 16-team field in par-4 (-4, 3.98) and par-5 scoring (-11, 4.63), carding a tournament-best 54 birdies.
 
Western Carolina returns to action Sept. 27-28 when it hosts the JT Poston Invitational at the beautiful Country Club of Sapphire Valley. The tournament returns to the picturesque mountain course after WCU hosted an event last season at the Cateechee Golf Club.