Low scores are keeping the Missouri Southern golf team high in the MIAA standings.

The team shot a 306 for the second-straight day and edged out Washburn by three strokes to climb into second place in the standings after a third-place finish at the 2009 Fort Hays State Invitational this week in Hays.

“We’ve been OK. I think the good news is that our expectations have risen,” said Lions’ Head Coach Kevin Greim. “So its harder to meet those expectations now.

“That having been said, we are not playing up to our potential, I don’t believe, at this point. Now that doesn’t mean we’re playing poorly. But we’ve got more in us. The good news is we’re playing OK and we expect more, the bad news is we’re not playing up to that yet.”

Junior Seve Smith shot a 71 and a 74 to finish tied with Washburn’s Dustin Yeager and Central Missouri’s Zack Van Dolah to force a playoff for the individual title. Van Dolah was eliminated on the first playoff hole (the par four, ninth) on which both Yeager and Smith shot par. Both Yeager and Smith would bogey the next two holes, No. 8 and No. 1, but Yeager again shot par on the ninth and Smith went double-bogey to earn Yeager the individual title.

Seniors David Eddy and Taylor Griffith finished tied for 17th with a 154, while sophomores Jared Essary and Andy Hogenmiller as well as junior Stephen Boyd were tied for 36th with a 159. Jamie Voegelli shot a 160 to tie for 41st.

Central Missouri placed first and continued its streak of tournaments won with a 14-stroke lead over second-place Nebraska-Kearney. Southern was third, followed by Washburn, Missouri Western, Fort Hays, Colorado School of Mines, Pittsburg State, Dodge City CC, Southwest Baptist, Truman State and Fort Hays’ B team.

The Lions are tied with Washburn for second place in the MIAA and trail Central Missouri by three points in the standings.

Southern will play host to the third points event in the spring, with the final points event, the MIAA Championship, counting double toward the conference title.

“Number one for us to get better, we have to get somebody playing really well in each round,” Greim said. “We have to get the back-end better. We’re getting almost enough good rounds, and now we need a great round each time out, and we need the bad rounds better.”

Monday and Tuesday, the Lions will travel to Florence to compete in the North Alabama Fall Classic to round out the fall schedule.