Nick Voke’s stellar play through two rounds has him atop the leaderboard at the Gopher Invitational.

Finishing at 5-under-par and in a tie for first place individually, Voke paced the Cyclones in the team competition, where they sit in fifth after a total score of 8-over 576.

“Nick played great; that’s to be expected of him,” said ISU coach Andrew Tank. “He’s been playing really well this year leading into coming here. I’m just happy to see him get off to a good start and put himself into contention going into tomorrow.”

Voke, a freshman from New Zealand, is in position to contend for a championship in his first collegiate event. He will go into Monday’s final round tied with last year’s champion Corey Conners of Kent State.

As a team, the Cyclones have set themselves up for a strong finish as well.

After a trying first round of 12-over 295 in windy conditions, Iowa State bounced back in the next round for a minus-three score of 281, the second best overall score of round two.

“I think the wind might have died down a little bit in the afternoon, but I think we just played better,” Tank mentioned in regards to the teams improved play. “Most specifically, Scott [Fernandez] played a lot better. That [first round] was pretty out of character for him, but he got things back on track and played solid in the afternoon round.”

Fernandez opened the tournament with a ten-over round of 81, but showed resiliency in shooting a second round 69.

Tank also cited a gained familiarity with the course between rounds one and two may have played a factor in the team’s improvement. The Cyclones as a team improved by 14 strokes and the field collectively shot 22 strokes better in round two.

Going into round three on Monday, the Cyclones sit 11 strokes behind frontrunner New Mexico in what is a bunched leaderboard.

New Mexico leads at 3-under-par, with Kent State at even par, Baylor at +5, Cal at +6, Iowa State at +8, and Minnesota +10 to round out the top six.

“Eleven shots is a pretty big gap, but it’s certainly doable,” Tank said. “I think the vibe on the team is just to go out there and maybe get a couple guys to shoot really low and then you never know what could happen.”