ELK RIVER, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University men's golf coach Tom Farren could duplicate his team's opening-round performance at the three-day Twin Cities Classic, his Cardinals would most definitely be in the hunt for a conference title at next weekend's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.

But while duplicating that first round – in which SMU shot a school-record 308, with all four golfers shooting five-over 77 or better — would be the key to the Cardinals' MIAC contention, a duplication of the second or third rounds would spell MIAC disaster.

After limping out of the blocks like gangbusters, the Cardinals limped to the finish line, as SMU shot a second-round 339 and a third-round 335 to finish 15th in the 20-team, regular-season finale.

"As well as we played (in Saturday's opening round), we played just as poorly the following two days," said SMU coach Tom Farren. "We showed signs of what we are capable of doing on that first day, but we couldn't follow it up. One day isn't enough, you have to be able to go out and duplicate that performance the following day."

Eric Thom (Portland, Ore.) opened with back-to-back 77s, but struggled to an 84 in the third round to settle for a 238 total and a 39th-place individual finish. D.J. Schweitzer (McHenry, Ill.) carded SMU's lowest round of the tournament, a three-over 75, and finished 49th overall (77-89-75—241). Mark Miller (Winona, Minn.), who opened with a four-over 76, placed 73rd (76-84-88—248), while Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) rounded out the Cardinals' top four by placing 93rd (78-92-88—258).