LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A pair of top 20 individual finishes and the best round of the tournament from a third helped Hawai'i Pacific University combine for a final round team score of 2-over-par 290 to finish eighth at the Las Vegas Desert Classic on Tuesday at the Royal Links Golf Club.
 
The Sharks 290 gave them a final score of 19-over 883 for eighth, a stroke behind Division III's No. 6 Redlands in seventh at 882, two strokes behind the fifth place tie of Northeastern State and Texas-Tyler at 881 and four strokes from No. 6 Oklahoma Christian at 879 in fourth. HPU finished ahead of No. 32 Washburn (Kan.) at 885, No. 45 Central Oklahoma at 886, No. 26 Wingate (N.C.) at 890 and No. 39 Colorado Mesa at 894.
 
No. 3 West Florida tallied a final round of 15-under 273 to win the event at 25-under 839, with host and No. 29 Missouri-St. Louis second at 12-under 852 and No. 10 St. Mary's (Texas) third at 1-under 863.
 
"We played really well this week," said HPU coach Ryan Acosta. "We improved 72 shots from last year at this tournament. That's a great improvement!"
 
Sophomore Sirasit Prateepmongkol of Bangkok, Thailand/Ruamrudee International, posted four birdies and three bogeys to card a 1-under 71 in the final round on the on the par 72, 6,962-yard Links Replica course and finish 16th at 2-over 218. Senior Chad Vander Dussen of Rancho Murieta, Calif./Pleasant Grove carded a 1-over 73 with four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey and finished tied for 18th at 4-over 219.
 
The round tournament for the Sharks was turned in on Tuesday as senior Zach Kwan from Sacramento, Calif./Granite Bay, fired a 3-under 69, chalking up five birdies and suffering bogeys on a pair of par 3s. Kwan finished the tournament tied for 23rd at 5-over 221.
 
Senior Masato Yoshitsugu of Aichi, Japan/Bluffton S.C. Heritage Academy shot a 5-over 77 in the final round for a 226 and senior Chris McKnight of Wilton, Calif./Cosumnes Oaks finished with an 81 for a 236 total.
 
The Sharks are in action again in about two weeks as they play in the Biola Spring Invitational March 17 and 18 at the Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, Calif.