BANKS, Ore.  There aren't goalies, or defenders or any other way to slow your competitors down on the golf course, so Whitman's men will take the good with its opposite as they recorded their lowest round of the season Saturday, a 309, but sit in ninth place at the Northwest Conference Fall Classic.

Taking care of their own business the Blues put themselves in position to move up the standings during Sunday's final round, trailing eighth-place Lewis & Clark College by one stroke, seventh-place Pacific (Ore.) University by six, and sixth-place University of Puget Sound by just seven strokes.

Mario Santos-Davidson paced the Blues Saturday, recording a 5-over 76 (38-38) at the par-71, 6,400-yard Quail Valley Golf Course. His day included a pair of birdies along with 10 pars, slotting the senior into a 21st-place tie.

One stroke behind and tied for 26th are teammates Eric Wasserman (37-40—77) and Luc Birchfield (39-38—77). Wasserman knocked down two birdies between nine pars, and Birchfield carded a team-best 11 pars while jotting down one birdie.

Tobias Zabel (40-39—79) and Nick Xiang (38-42—80) rounded out Whitman's numbers on the opening day.

The Northwest Conference hosts three 'majors' during the season -- the Fall Classic, Spring Classic and NWC Championship -- with each factoring into a mathematical formula to determine the conference champion.