Columbus, Ohio, April 18, 2004 - The Penn State Men's Golf team, led by Jason Pannone's (East Greenwich, RI) 78-70-76 = 224 performance, good for a tie for 14th place, finished in ninth place of 18 competing teams in the Kepler Intercollegiate over the weekend. Ted Neville (Oklahoma City, OK) and Marco Poccia (Saratoga Springs, NY) each shot a 227 to finish in a tie for 28th place, while Greg Pieczynski's (Kingston Pa.; 78-76-75 = 229) and Mark Leon's (Brampton, Ontario; 79-78-76 = 233) scores improved from round-to-round for respective 37th and 62nd place finishes.

Collectively, the Nittany Lions combined for a 310-290-303 = 903 to finish in ninth place, 17 shots back of tournament winner Xavier's 288-297-301 = 886. Xavier's first-round team score of 288 was the only single-round team score that topped Penn State's second-round 290. Penn State got each of its two individual sub-par scores in that second round, as Pannone fired a 2-under 70 and Poccia registered a 1-under 71.

Kent State (889), Ohio State (895), Toledo (895) and Northwestern (897) rounded out the tournament's top-five, as Ohio schools claimed each of the top four finishes.

TOURNAMENT NOTES: Greg Pieczynski was one of just five golfers to shoot even par or better on the course's par three's. Jason Pannone's 12 birdies trailed only Toledo's Brad Heaven for most in the tournament.

Penn State will travel to Akron, Ohio next weekend to compete in the First Energy Collegiate (April 24th-25th) before returning home to host the Rutherford Intercollegiate (April 30th-May 1st). For more information on Penn State Men's Golf, please visit Penn State's official athletic website at www.GoPSUsports.com.

Robert Kepler Intercollegiate 4/17 - 4/18 OSU Scarlet Course Columbus, OH Par: 72 Yardage: 7141 Top 10 Team Scores 1 Xavier University 288 297 301 886 2 Kent State 300 296 293 889 3 Ohio State Univ. 295 299 301 895 Toledo, U. of 294 295 306 895 5 Northwestern 303 298 296 897 6 Indiana University 299 301 298 898 Illinois, U. of 307 297 294 898 8 Purdue University 304 296 300 900 9 Penn State U. 310 290 303 903 10 Kansas State Univ. 297 303 307 907 Top 10 Individual Scores 1 Ryan Yip Kent State 67 74 73 214 2 Brad Heaven Toledo 69 72 73 214 3 John Streibich Xavier 69 73 73 215 4 Jeff Overton Indiana 74 73 69 216 Peter Laws Kent State 72 72 72 216 6 Zach Doran Ohio State 72 73 73 218 7 Andrew Ruthkoski Mich. St. 75 74 71 220 Miles Maillet Xavier 72 74 74 220 Heath Peters Indiana 72 71 77 220 Joe Affrunti Illinois 76 74 70 220