SEASIDE—Coming off a Wildcat Classic tournament title and No. 11 national ranking, the Chico State men's golf team could not sustain its strong start to the season this week, finishing in a tie for 14^th place out of the 18 teams competing at the Otter Invitational at Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside.
 
Chico State shot a final-round 300 Tuesday and slipped three spots down the leaderboard in an 18-team field that featured 14 of the top-33-ranked teams in the nation entering the action. The Wildcats finished behind all of the other ranked teams in the field, but will have plenty of time to make up for it with most of the campaign still ahead. They'll need to improve on their par-5 scoring to do so. Though they tied for second in the field with two eagles, they were 15^th overall in par-5 scoring at 5-under par for the tournament.
 
Playing as an individual this week, Travis Miller led the Wildcats with a 13^th-place finish at 1-over par. Tyler Ashman tied for 44^th at 8-over, Dakota Ochoa and Mark Noonan tied for 50^th at 10-over, and Naoki Easterday tied for 53^rd at 11-over, while Ben Mouser tied for 71^st at 14-over. 
 
Cal State Monterey Bay's Simon Bjorken won medalist honors by three shots at 11-under par. He was one of only eight players in the 94-man field to finish under par. Barry University, the lone team in the field to finish under par, won the team title at 8-under par. Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State were each 3-over par.

Next week the will travel to Hawaii for the Southwest Airlines Hawaii Pacific University Shootout at Leilehua Golf Course in Wahiawa, Hawaii, on Tuesday and Wednesday; and the Southwest Airlines Dennis Rose Intercollegiate at Waikaloa Beach Golf Course in Waikaloa, Hawaii, on Friday and Saturday. That will mark the end of the Wildcats' fall campaign. The spring portion of their schedule starts on February 13.