BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The Nevada men's golf team is 18 holes away from a successful title defense at the Jackrabbit Invitational as the Wolf Pack holds the 36-hole lead at Boulder Creek Golf Club.
 
The Wolf Pack had an up and down day, carding a team score of 288 in the opening round and then dominating in the afternoon session with a team round of 274. The 274 in round two is the second lowest team score of the season and is tied for seventh-best in program history. The second round helped Nevada jump three spots on the team leaderboard and into the lead. The Pack's two-round total of 562 is good for 14-under par and a two-shot lead over No. 16 UCLA and a four-shot lead over No. 37 UNLV. The Pack torched the field in birdies on Friday making 54, 12 better than UC Santa Barbara which made the second most.
 
Through 36 holes of action, Nevada has three players in the top 10, including the current individual leader in Grant Booth. Booth, who entered the week as the No. 85 player in the country, leads by one shot over Devon Bling of UCLA. The No. 7 player in the nation, Shintaro Ban of UNLV, is four shots behind Booth in third.
 
Booth posted an impressive day of golf with both rounds under par and sits at 9-under with 18 holes remaining. In the morning the Australia native carded a 1-under 71 but came back in the afternoon to tie his career low round of 64 and jump seven spots on the individual leaderboard. What was most impressive is that Booth did all of this with a quadruple bogey on his scorecard in the first round. He was near perfect in round two, making just one bogey on No. 18. For the day he totaled 16 birdies, which led the field.
 
Sitting six strokes behind Booth is newcomer Sam Meek. Meek, a transfer from Southern Illinois, is playing in his first tournament as a member of the Wolf Pack and is currently tied for sixth place in the 88-player field. In his first round Meek finished with an even par round of 72 and used seven birdies in his second round to help himself to a 3-under 69.
 
Freshman Joey Vrzich registered the best turnaround of the day as he struggled in the earlier round shooting 76 but shaved 10 strokes off his second round to record a new career low of 66. In his second round Vrzich made nine birdies, including six on the front nine. He enters the final round in sole possession of ninth at 2-under par. Also for the Pack senior Corey Eddings carded rounds of 72 and 75 and sits at 3-over for the tournament in a tie for 27^th. Fellow senior Kaleb Gorbahn is one stroke behind Eddings and is tied for 32^nd.
 
Nevada will conclude the Jackrabbit Invitational with the third and final round on Saturday.
 
Nevada Players
1. Grant Booth – 71-64=135 (-9)
T6. Sam Meek – 72-69=141 (-3)
9. Joey Vrzich – 76-66=142 (-2)
T27. Corey Eddings – 72-75=147 (+3)
T32. Kaleb Gorbahn – 73-75=148 (+4)