Wilmington, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's golf team returned to play on Monday after a week away from the links by heading south to Wilmington to compete in Olivet Nazarene University's Bill Johnson Memorial. The three-round event was spread out over two days of action, and the Thunder accounted for two of the seven squads that participated in the competition. When the final scores were tallied up from all three rounds, Wheaton's 'A' team placed third in the standings and its 'B' squad came in fifth. Junior golfer Wyatt Brown was the top performer for the Thunder at this week's tournament, tying for sixth place on the 36-player leaderboard.

Illinois Wesleyan University's 'B' lineup topped the seven-team standings, while the hosting Tigers' 'A' squad finished as runners-up over Wheaton's 'A' team by only three strokes. The Thunder's lead group carded a total event score of 929 across all three rounds of play, just behind ONU's 926 mark and an impressive 25 shots ahead of Olivet Nazarene's 'B' team in fourth place. Wheaton's 'B' group registered a combined score of 986, concluding the competition a comfortable 24 strokes in front of the Tigers' 'C' squad in sixth place.

Brown stayed consistent throughout each of the three rounds on Monday and Tuesday, carding a 77 (+5) in yesterday's first round and two 76 rounds to follow for a tournament total of 229 (+13) that sealed his top-ten finish. Freshman teammate Ryan Soe was the clubhouse leader for the Thunder after Monday's first two rounds, having shot a 75 (+3) in the first and a 77 in the second. The Texas native followed these scores up with a mark of 78 this afternoon to end the event a single shot behind Brown on 230 (+14) with a solid eighth-placed effort.

The upperclassmen pair of Baylor Brogan and Tannen Reed matched each other on a competition total of 236 (+20) to also finish inside the top 15, with the former posting one of the best individual scores of the tournament in the final round with a 70 (-2) on Tuesday to shoot up the leaderboard. Luke Pringle started strongly with a 76 (+4) opening round on Monday and eventually finished 16th on the solo standings with a two-day tally of 238 (+22).

Like Brogan, Ryan McLain saved his best for last, carding a 75 (+3) this afternoon to finish the competition with a combined mark of 242. Micah Chiong was only two shots behind him on a two-day total of 244.

Freddie Chan entered the clubhouse with a final score of 257 across the three rounds of play, while Aidan Quinlivan carded a two-day mark of 264. Jake Parras made his collegiate debut for Wheaton at this week's event and shot an even 300 across all three rounds.

The Wheaton men have two competitions on the schedule this week, and the Thunder will next be in action on Friday and Saturday at the Midwest Region Fall Classic hosted by Benedictine University in Wisconsin. Friday's first round is scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM, while Saturday's finale will tee off at approximately 1:30 PM.