KERRVILLE, Texas – In his best NCAA Division I tournament performance, Cristobal Sepulveda led the Texans to a fourth-place finish at The Big Texan Invitational Monday-Tuesday.
 
UTRGV hosted the tournament at Riverhill Country Club, where the Texans finished with a team score of +17 (881). They were just a mere stroke behind a third-place finish and eight behind the Vaqueros, who won the event in Kerrville, Texas.
 
The Texans also tied for the second-most birdies in the tournament with 48 and tied-most eagles with four. They tied for the third-best score on both Par 5's (4.80 average score, -12 total) and Par 3's (3.23 average score, +14 total).
 
Sepulveda led the Texans shooting -1 (70-70-75) for the tournament, finishing tied-seventh. Jack Anderson followed up at +3 (70-72-77), tied-16th. Alvaro Huidobro finished +7 (77-73-73), tied for 31st. Masen Ward shot +10 (77-73-76), tied for 37th. Max Bengtsson wrapped it up for the team at +11 (76-75-76), tied for 42nd. Bladen Samaniego competed as an individual and took tied-68th at +19 (72-79-84).
 
"Overall it was a great team performance, the team is still trending in the right direction with another top-five performance overall," head coach Chance Cain said. "Cristobal played excellent this week, and Jack had yet another solid tournament. I'm proud of the way the guys fought in the rough conditions today and now we just need to find a way to get more consistency from the team as a whole to make the next step forward in order to bring home a team victory."
 
Sepulveda indeed played excellent this week, leading the entire tournament in scoring on Par 4's where he scored an average of 3.90 and totaled -3. The first two rounds started off hot for the freshman. He dominated the Par 4 fourth hole and the Par 5 fifth hole, where he shot birdies the first two rounds back-to-back. On the back nine of the final round, he was still knocking down birdies with three rolling in to finish strong on 10, 15, and 17.
 
Anderson continued his fantastic spring placing in the top-20 for the third time in five tournaments this semester. He had the tied-third most total amount of birdies with 13 dropping for him over the tournament. His performance was exceptional the first two rounds finishing with -2 and E, respectively. The third round he still fought hard even putting up an eagle on the 14th hole.
 
Huidobro had his best finish yet at Tarleton. He has improved every single tournament since his debut at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. This week he was one of two golfers across the 80-man field with multiple eagles. He eagled the fifth hole the first round and then also eagled the 14th hole during the final round.
 
Ward played consistent golf with nothing worse than a bogey, 30 pars and seven birdies. Bengtsson also shot very consistently. He had his own eagle on the fifth hole like some of his teammates and got eight birdies to drop in for him as well.
 
The Texans' next tournament will be coming up quick with the Walden Invitational in Montgomery, Texas. It will be held Monday-Tuesday, April 3-4, at Walden On Lake Conroe, hosted by Sam Houston.