Greenville, S.C. – Sophomore transfer Ivan Ninkovic advanced 11 places in Sunday's second round to lead Western Carolina to eighth place after 36 holes at the 53rd Furman Intercollegiate being contested at the par-71, 7,005-yard Furman University Golf Course. WCU posted team rounds of 290 and 281 over the tournament's first two rounds.
 
Sitting in 10th after the opening 18 holes, the Catamounts climbed two positions in the second round to enter Monday just three strokes outside of the team top five. The final round of the fall semester for WCU is slated for Monday with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring through GolfStat is available through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Ninkovic countered three bogeys with a pair of birdies in the first 18 holes on Sunday to shoot 1-over par 71. In the second round, he was 1-over par through eight holes with one bogey before he birdied three of his final nine holes to shoot 2-under par 69. Over Sunday's 36 holes, Ninkovic carded 27 pars, tied for third in the field.
 
Fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen carded consecutive rounds of even-par 71 to sit in a tie for 25th. The Moss, Norway, product tallied a team-best six birdies on Sunday including four in the second round.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are freshmen Andrew Korytoski in a tie for 36th (144) and Jace Butcher in a tie for 63rd (149), with senior Pablo Hernandez in a tie for 70th overall with a two-round score of 150. Korytoski carded seven birdies on Sunday including four in the second round to advance 23 positions, while Butcher posted four birdies with three over the second 18 holes where he was five-strokes better to advance 13 spots. Hernandez carded five of his six birdies in the first round to shoot 1-over 72 before a slow start to the second round that included four bogeys and one double-bogey led him to shoot 7-over par 78.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach is tied for 76th with a 36-hole score of 151, knocking a stroke off his first-round 76 to shoot 75 over the second 18 holes.
 
Tournament host Furman leads the 15-team field by three strokes over No. 21 Chattanooga in second place and 11 strokes over No. 26 Texas A&M in third. James Madison and Campbell are tied for fourth at 568 to round out the top five teams.
 
Chattanooga's Paul Conroy vaulted 13 positions in the second round to move into a tie with Campbell's Erik Johansson who climbed three positions to sit atop the individual leader board with matching scores of 8-under par 134.
 
Paired with golfers from Richmond and Gardner-Webb, WCU's scoring five tees off at 9 a.m. between the seventh and ninth holes on Monday morning.
 
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8 – Western Carolina – 290 – 281 = 571 (+3)
T19 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72-69 = 141 (-1)
T25 – Magnus Pedersen – 71-71 = 142 (E)
T36 – Andrew Korytoski – 75-69 = 144 (+2)
T63 – Jace Butcher – 77-72 = 149 (+7)
T70 – Pablo Hernandez – 72-78 = 150 (+8)
T76 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 76-75 = 151 (+9)