State College, Pa. – Western Carolina junior Ivan Ninkovic matched his second-round score of 3-under par 68 on Sunday to rally seven spots in the final round of the 2025 Rutherford Intercollegiate, placing in a two-way tie for fourth to lead the Catamounts to a seventh-place showing at the par-71, 7,130-yard Blue Course at the Penn State Golf Club. WCU slid one spot after event host Penn State broke the second-round tie with the Purple & Gold over the final 18 holes, finishing with a two-day total of 873.
 
Ninkovic posted his best individual finish of the season with his second-best, 54-hole score of 211, just a pair of strokes off his best round carded at the home JT Poston Invitational back in the fall.
 
Opening on the back nine, the Pula, Croatia, product shot even-par through his first seven holes before back-to-back bogeys on No. 17 and 18 left him at 2-over par for the day heading to the final nine holes. After four consecutive pars beginning with hole No. 1, Ninkovic made a strong charge to the finish line to rocket up the leaderboard. He birdied the par-4, 400-yard fourth and par-5, 577-yard fifth for the first time on the weekend to move back to even-par for the day. After scoring par on the par-4 seventh – a hole he bogeyed in Saturday's second round – Ninkovic birdied the par-3, 205-yard eighth before finishing his day with his second eagle of the event on the par-5, 519-yard ninth.
 
WCU's Ninkovic was one of just two players to card two Eagles on the weekend, joined by Long Island's Arjun Singh Bhatia, and finished with nine birdies over the two-day tournament. He was tied for second in par-5 scoring at 7-under par (4.22) and ranked among the leaders in par-3 scoring at the tourney's end, posting a 2.92 (-1) mark to finish tied for fourth in the field.
 
Western Carolina's second-round leader sophomore Andrew Korytoski matched his best three-round score of the season (216) in turning in his best finish after coming home tied for 14th. After a tumultuous opening nine off the No. 10 tee that saw the Cataula, Ga., product turn for home at 5-over par, Korytoski shot 1-under on the front for his final-round 75. The second-year striker carded four more birdies on the front nine as part of finishing tied for fifth in the field with 10 total to rebound on Sunday.
 
Korytoski also finished tied for second in par-4 scoring at 3.97 (-1).
 
Freshman Chase Cline slipped one position into a tie for 32nd at the end of the 54-hole event, countering six bogeys with three birdies to shoot a third-straight round of 3-over par 74. The Chapin, S.C., product finished with eight combined birdies.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five was sophomore Jace Butcher in a tie for 44th at 224 after matching his first-round score of 74 in the final round, and senior Kiefer Bulau in 68th overall (243). Butcher finished with seven birdies – three on Sunday – while Bulau carded five total.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, sophomore Michael Bevins finished tied for 56th overall with a three-round score of 229, shooting 78 on Sunday. The Fort Myers, Fla., native finished with eight birdies, two over his final 18 holes.
 
Delaware claimed a four-stroke victory over runner-up Long Island as the Blue Hens finished with a score of 3-under par 849 with the Sharks in second at 1-over par 853. Second place was four strokes clear of third-place Longwood (857), which climbed one spot on Sunday to relegate Rhode Island (863) to fourth. UConn rounded out the top five at 864, just ahead of sixth-place event-host Penn State (870).
 
Luke Stennett of Rhode Island claimed the individual medalist honors by two strokes over Longwood's Justin LaRue, 207-to-209. LaRue advanced two spots over the final 18 holes, dropping LIU's Singh Bhatia into third at 210, a stroke ahead of WCU's Ninkovic.
 
Western Carolina now turns all attention to the 2025 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship which opens next weekend on Sunday, April 20, at the Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga. The champion garners the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Golf postseason, with the individual medalist if not on the championship squad also garnering a berth.
 
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7 – Western Carolina – 293 – 289 – 291 = 873 (+21)
T4 – Ivan Ninkovic – 75-68-68 = 211 (-2)
T14 – Andrew Korytoski – 70-71-75 = 216 (+3)
T32 – Chase Cline – 74-74-74 = 222 (+9)
T44 – Jace Butcher – 74-76-74 = 224 (+11)
68 – Kiefer Bulau – 78-81-84 = 243 (+30)
T56 – Michael Bevins (ind.) - 76-75-78 = 229 (+16)