Kevin Oswald was looking for improvement. The ISU golfer wanted to perform better than his fall statistics showed.

One aspect of that improvement might have been witnessed Tuesday, when he shot a 74 in wind chills that were below freezing.

“Mentally, I just went out with the attitude that I was going to go out and shoot a good score,” Oswald said. “You’ve got to stay upbeat about it because you have to go out there anyway.”

The junior led the Cyclones in scoring for the second time this year at the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio.

ISU head coach Jay Horton had only good things to say about Oswald’s effort, which occurred during a day in which most competitors’ scores skyrocketed.

“I’ve been playing golf for about 29 years and that was one of the three worst days I’ve ever witnessed,” Horton said. “To be able to shoot a number like that in those conditions shows a lot of guts.”

Junior Jeremy Lyons said the team used that situation and turned it into an advantage rather than a hindrance.

“You have to say `Everybody else is going to be upset and lose focus,’ and you have to keep yours,” he said. “That’s what most of us did. A lot of us took this as a fun time.”

The Cyclones completed the tournament in 11th place, shooting a team score of 922. The tournament concluded the second week in a row the Cyclones placed 11th.

At last week’s Southwest Texas Invitational, the ISU team shot 928 in another windy tournament.

Horton said that the team was ready to play these last two weeks due to the preparation of winter practices.

“I thought we came out playing better as a team than we have in past years,” he said. “We’ve been working on how not to throw away shots and the [players’] game plans around the course are improving.”

Lyons said his teammates have become more focused with their role on the team as the tournament exposure continues to increase.

“The way we stick together is much better than it used to be,” he said. “We make it more of a team thing, even though it’s an individual sport. We just need more experience.”

The UTSA Invitational may have been a progressive step, but Horton said the team is working to get even better.

“There were some signs of improvement from the first week,” he said. “We still need some more consistency throughout the whole team.”

The team will have a little more than two weeks to recover from their Texas two-step before heading to Florida to play in the El Diablo Intercollegiate March 16 and 17.

Lyons said he will take the time to improve on aspects of the game that are more feasible to work on during the cold weather spell.

“I can’t work on my short game a whole lot, but I can work on my mental game,” he said. “I made a lot of mental errors [in Texas], and that’s something I can work on up here.”

Oswald hopes that the past two performances will be the start of a successful semester on the course.

“I think I’m finally coming around and finding out what I’m capable of,” he said. “I expected a lot more of myself throughout the fall season and just didn’t play up to what I should have. Hopefully, I’ll produce a lot more this spring.”