Kansasville, Wis. -- Nearly two weeks after capturing first place at its last competition in Michigan, the Wheaton men's golf team returned to play this weekend by taking part in the Midwest Region Classic, hosted by Benedictine University in Wisconsin. The 44-team event spanned two rounds of action across Friday and Saturday, and the Thunder ultimately tied for second in the team standings. Just as he did at this event last year, senior Sam Obitts led the way for the Thunder with the team's best score this weekend and earned a T-third placement on the individual leaderboard.

Wheaton was tied for seventh place with a total score of 294 (+6) after Friday's first round, and the Thunder's impressive combined mark of 281 (-7) in today's play meant that the squad's overall weekend score was under par at 575 (-1). When all the scores were tallied from the last two days of action, Wheaton tied with fellow CCIW competitors Millikin, and these two teams finished nine strokes behind event winners Carthage and six shots ahead of fourth-placed Calvin University.

Obitts was joined by Baylor Brogan, Wyatt Brown, Freddie Chan, and Jonah Swartz to make up the five-man team representing Wheaton in the sizable event. Obitts shot an outstanding 68 (-4) tally in yesterday's opening round to lead the 244-man field heading into today's 18. The Arlington, Virginia-native followed up his scorching day one performance with a solid 71 (-1) on Saturday to eventually tie for third in the solo standings with a combined score of 139 (-5), missing out on the top of the podium by just two strokes in a headline performance.

His fellow senior Swartz had the best individual round for Wheaton on Saturday, dropping his first-day mark of +3 by six strokes with a 69 (-3) this afternoon to ultimately card a combined mark of 144 (Even par) and tie for 12th in the solo standings.

Brown earned a top 50 finish in the regional competition by registering scores of +1 on Friday and +3 today to tie for 48th place via a 148 (+4) total tally.

Chan matched Brown on a T-48th finish for the weekend along with eight other golfers after improving his first-day showing by eight strokes this afternoon with a strong 70 (-2) round.

Brogan ensured that all five Thunder players placed in the top 75 of the event when he also dropped his Friday first round score by eight shots with a 71 (-1) today to enter the clubhouse on 150 (+6).

After a strong showing in the regional event, Wheaton's focus turns to a conference competition next week. The Thunder will head down to Peoria for the CCIW Preview, which is being hosted by Carthage College.