NORMAL, Ill.  — The Western Illinois men's golf team finished second led by senior Brian Scott's second-place individual finish at the D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate, which concluded Monday, Oct. 12.

Scott shot rounds of 72-72-71—215 for his second career runner up finish as the Fighting Leathernecks' scores of 301-295-292—888 helped the team take its highest finish of the 2009-10 season.

"Brian has been a real steady player all fall. It was nice to see him put three good rounds together," said Western Illinois coach Mel Blasi. "I was pleased with our performance overall. I think we are making strides in the right direction."

Blasi said Scott's outing helped out the team as senior Kyle Peterman, who led Wetern in each of the Leathernecks' first three outings, struggled with his putting. Nevertheless, Peterman shot 78-74-72—224 to share a tie of 13th place individually.

Behind Scott and Peterman, senior Jake Weeber shot 77-76-75—228 to tie for 26th, Ryan Franks shot 76-73-80—229 to tie for 35th and Tim Harwood shot 76-80-74—230 to tie for 39th.

"It was very cold the first round of the tournament and we didn't play very well, but we picked it up (Monday)," Blasi said. "We had solid play from all five guys."

Leatherneck freshmen Konrad Deka and Ben Kilborn both played in the tournament as individuals. Deka tied for 72nd with scores of 80-80-79—239 while Kilborn tied for 80th at 81-87-77—245.

Host Illinois State won the tournament with a three-round score of 873 while the Redbirds' Jeff Kellen took individual medalist honors with a score of 209.

"We were good, jut not quite good enough to win the tournament," Blasi said. "The difference between Illinois State and us was our inability to read the greens while they were able to do that on their home course."

The Leathernecks will finish their fall season Oct. 19-20 at the Austin Peay Invitational in Hopkinsville, Ky. After improving their finish in each of their four fall tournaments, Blasi said he hopes the team can do so again to pull our their first win of the season at Austin Peay.

"Most of our guys are familiar with the course. We've won there before (in 2005)," Blasi said. "A lot of the teams that are there, we haven't seen all fall. Austin Peay was and NCAA qualifier last year."

*Note, Konrad Deka and Ben Kilborn's second-round scores were transposed in the official results. Deka shot an 80 in his second round while Kilborn shot an 87.