ROCK ISLAND, Ill. ­— The Knox College men's golf team matched its first round score at the Viking Classic hosted by Augustana College at the 6,799-yard, par-72 Highland Springs Municipal Golf Course, carding an 11-over 299 to leapfrog over the College of DuPage into second place at 22-over par (598), 19 strokes off the pace set by the host team.

First-year Diego Carrillo paced the Prairie Fire in this round, improving 10 strokes from his first 18 holes (the largest improvement of any of the 58 players in the field) to a 1-under 71, one of five players to shoot that low today. Three birdies along with an eagle on the 534-yard, par-5 second hole allowed him to secure his third-lowest round of the season and jump 22 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 21st place.

But the drama of the day encompassed Carrillo's classmate, Thomas Lyaudet, who entered the final round with a two-stroke lead atop the leaderboard. The rookie got off to a sluggish start, bogeying five of his first eight holes to fall back into third place behind Augustana's Drake Stout, who led by four strokes at that point.

Stout added another stroke to his lead by sinking birdies on his next two holes as well, but he started to unravel from there. Lyaudet, meanwhile, found his stroke and birdied two holes and made par on seven others, leaving him in a three-way tie for first going into the final hole with Stout and Rose-Hulman's Alex Bilodeau, who was partnered with Lyaudet.

None of the three emerged victorious, however, as Stout double-bogeyed his final hole and both Lyaudet and Bilodeau bogeyed theirs. Instead, it was Augustana's Alex Thery who came out on top, sinking a birdie on his last hole to shoot past all three for medalist honors.

While Lyaudet had to settle for a three-way tie for second, with junior Pranav Nandakumar completed the 36 holes just outside the top 10 with a 4-over 148 (tied for 11th). Sophomore Nathaniel Zug completed the team scoring for the Prairie Fire with a 4-over 77.

Knox will compete in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships starting on Sunday, May 4 at Timbergate Golf Course in Edinburgh, Indiana. The championships will last three rounds with one played on each successive day.