The Iowa State men’s golf team fired a three-round score of 872 to notch a 10th-place finish at the Missouri Classic at the Missouri Bluffs Golf Course Oct. 11 and 12.

The Cyclones played decently, but fell victim to what Coach Jay Horton called the strongest competition yet.

“These are a lot of the top teams out there,” Horton said.

The University of Kansas team continued its string of strong finishes by winning the team title. It shot a team total of 852, beating the second- place team, Southwest Louisiana, by three strokes.

After the first round on Monday morning, the Iowa State men were one-under and in second place.

“We just lost focus in the afternoon,” Horton said. “Being young, it’s hard to sustain.”

As a team, the Cyclones played consistently, but Horton pointed out that the teams finishing ahead of ISU had at least one player each shooting in sixties.

Aaron Patton, who is consistently the Cyclones’ top score, led the squad by shooting a three-round total of 215 to finish in 21st place. As the lone upperclassman, he is trying to set an example for the younger players on the team.

Matt Gatchel and Phil Slovitt once again put in solid rounds for the team.

Winning the medalist honors for the tournament was Kansas’ Ryan Vermeer who had his work cut out for him in beating Nebraska’s Seth Porter and Southwest Louisiana’s Richard Ainley by only one stroke. This is the second tournament Vermeer has won this year.

Even after some of the disappointing finishes, Horton is still optimistic about this team’s future.

“We’re not that far off,” he said. “The ultimate goal for this team is still the NCAA’s this spring.”