BLAINE, WA â€" Brian Richey’s second day at the NCAA Division II National Tournament did not go as well as his first. Shooting a seven-over par 78, Florida Southern’s lone representative fell out of the top ten and nine strokes off the pace at the end of round two.

Beginning play tied for seventh after an opening round 72, Richey got off to a good start on Wednesday when he birdied his first hole shortly before 8:00 a.m. local time. That came on the par-four #10 and got him within one stroke of the lead at that point. Bogeys on 12 and 14, however, sent him in the wrong direction, and a double bogey on 16 left Richey at four-over through the first seven holes. By the time he finished, he’d slipped to 62nd and was eight strokes behind.

Odd as it sounds, Richey began moving back up in the standings after he completed his round. As the remaining groups got underway in the afternoon, they too found the going a little more difficult on day two. Many of those who were close to Richey in the standings struggled on their first few holes, allowing him to slide up a few spots right away. Eventually, some three hours after he’d finished his own round, Richey found himself 20 spots higher. He ended the day in a tie for 36th after a few others had fallen behind as well. Two of the others tied with him had been tied for second at the end of round one.

First-round leader Gene Webster retained his lead on Wednesday, but had company after an eventful day. Steve Cuzzort of Wayne State (MI), who’d been just one stroke behind at the end of round one, caught him on the final hole of Wednesday’s round. Cuzzort birdied three of his final five holes to get there, creating a tie for first with a 2nd-round score of one-under par 70. He and Webster were also one-under par for the tournament.

Webster’s second round included seven birdies, five bogeys and one double. Starting play on #10, the junior from Cal State-San Bernardino birdied three of his first four holes to improve his tournament score to four-under par; he then shot five-over during the next five holes, which included his double bogey on 17, and a bogey on 18 dropped him out of first place. After making the turn, though, Webster re-took the lead with four more birdies, two of them coming on his final two holes.

For a while it looked like an individual qualifier would hold the lead instead of Webster. Jared Schmader of Clarion (PA) was in the first group to tee off Wednesday, and birdied five early holes to surge into first place. With two holes remaining, he was still shooting three-under par in the round, but he double-bogeyed 17, the same hole that tripped up Webster. Schmader still finished at one-under par for the day, but instead of being in second place he found himself in a 4-way tie for fourth.

Another golfer who briefly sat on top of the scoreboard Wednesday was Lynn’s Patricio Salem. One of the last to get underway, Salem played his first six holes at three-under and was one stroke ahead of Webster at that point. A double bogey on #7 started a slide that dropped him all the way to 14th after finishing the round with a 75.

Leading the team competition is Barry University, which shot six-over as a team to take a 1-stroke lead over Cal State-San Bernardino.

Sonoma State had been tied with Barry at the start of the day, but the Seawolves were 12-over and fell into a third-place tie with Columbus State, with both schools now six strokes behind the Buccaneers. Georgia College was in fifth place, trailing the Bucs by seven strokes.

Round three at Loomis Trail Golf Club begins Thursday morning at 7:30 Pacific Time, with the final round scheduled for Friday.

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