AKRON, Ohio -- Fortunately for the Saint Mary's golf team the last two days, Mac McClung has been simply en fuego.

The junior from Fremont registered the two best rounds of his collegiate career, shot a tournament-low 11-under par and ran away with medalist honors by four strokes at the Firestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.

His performance helped propel the Gaels to a 10-under par 854 and a tie with the University of Indiana for tournament championship, their second of the young season.  The two teams finished five strokes ahead of third-place Iowa State and were two of just four teams to finish the event under par on the 7,125-yard, par 72 North Course.

After struggling to a ninth-place finish after yesterday's first round, Saint Mary's posted the best team score in each of the two subsequent rounds to move up eight spots - the most dramatic improvement among the 17-team field.  The Gaels' second-round 279 was the best team score of the tournament and their 7-under 281 was the low score in today's final round.

McClung, who shot under-par in each of his three rounds, went 71-66-68 for an 11-under par 205.  He finished four strokes ahead of second-place Chase Wright of Indiana, a senior who fell to Saint Mary's junior Ben Geyer in the second round of the U.S. Amateur over the summer in Wisconsin.

He registered 16 birdies and just five bogeys over the 54 holes to earn his first collegiate win, something he mentioned as a goal in a recent Gaels Spotlight on SMCGaels.com.

Geyer, a native of Arbuckle, Calif., rebounded from a first-round 74 to shoot 69-67 and finished the tournament with a 6-under 210 and tied for third-place.  He shot a bogey-free round today and his 5-under 67 equaled the low score of the day.

Senior Anders Engell finished the tournament with a 74-73-73 for a 4-over par 220 and tied with teammate Alex Bungert and six other competitors for 34th-place overall.  Bungert shot 75-71-74 in his three rounds.

Eric Grimberg overcame his first round 81 to shoot consecutive scores of 1-over par 73 and finished with an 11-over par 227.

The Gaels return to action next week at the Cabo Intercollegiate at Querencia Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

2011 Firestone Invitational
Firestone Country Club
Akron, Ohio
Par 72, 7125 yards

Fin.  Team                             Scores         Total    Par
t  1  Indiana........................  289  283  282    854    -10
t  1  Saint Mary's (CA)..............  294  279  281    854    -10
   3  Iowa State.....................  284  292  283    859     -5
   4  SMU............................  290  282  291    863     -1
   5  Ball State.....................  291  285  288    864      E
   6  Maryland.......................  290  286  291    867     +3
   7  Kansas State...................  292  292  284    868     +4
t  8  Akron..........................  291  285  296    872     +8
t  8  South Alabama..................  298  292  282    872     +8
  10  Eastern Michigan...............  292  297  284    873     +9
  11  Toledo.........................  297  292  288    877    +13
  12  Nebraska.......................  304  285  292    881    +17
t 13  Davidson.......................  300  294  289    883    +19
t 13  Miami (Ohio)...................  308  286  289    883    +19
  15  Illinois State.................  299  293  295    887    +23
  16  South Carolina-Aiken...........  302  294  294    890    +26
  17  Wisconsin......................  295  303  296    894    +30

Fin.  Player                Scores        Total    Par
   1  Mac McClung.......... 71   66   68    205    -11
t  3  Ben Geyer............ 74   69   67    210     -6
t 34  Alex Bungert......... 75   71   74    220     +4
t 34  Anders Engell........ 74   73   73    220     +4
t 65  Eric Grimberg........ 81   73   73    227    +11