CHATAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Butler County Community College freshman golfer Jacob Marquardt is in third place and 3 strokes off the lead after Tuesday’s opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III men’s national championship in Chautauqua, N.Y.

Marquardt shot a 1-under 71 to begin the four-round tournament at Chautauqua Golf Club’s Lake Course. The Seneca Valley High School graduate won the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference individual crown in October and in May recorded the lowest score by a BC3 golfer in capturing the NJCAA Division III Region 20 title.

Marquardt also tied Liam Kosior, who in 2023 posted the lowest single-round score of a BC3 golfer at the national championship since at least 2009.

Wyatt Beaver and teammate Vegas Melen, of Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, N.C., led the national championship field of 76 golfers from 10 states with a 68 and 69, respectively.

The Pioneers had a 311 and are in fourth place, 23 strokes behind leader Sandhills. Georgia Military College, Milledgeville, Ga., is in second place and the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., in third.

BC3’s Jaxon Salata equaled his best score of spring with a 79 and is tied for 22nd place. The Pioneers’ Xander Downing shot an 80 and is tied for 25th place and Parker Worsley, an 81 and is tied for 31st place.

Mitchell Covert added a 92 for the Pioneers.

Only the lowest four scores of each player in each round are tallied in the team standings. The squad with the lowest score after four rounds wins the national championship. The 18 golfers with the lowest score in the 72-hole season finale are named All-Americans.

BC3’s Taylor Voloch is in 16th place with a 120 in the NJCAA Division III women’s national championship at Chautauqua.

Kosior, a graduate of Neshannock Senior High School, shot a second-round 1-under 71 in 2023 in the national championship.

Marquardt in May won BC3’s sixth Region 20 individual crown since 2009. His two-day 144 broke a BC3 record set by Troy Loughry, Grove City, a two-time first-team All-American who won his first of two Region 20 individual titles with a 146 in 2022.

Downing, Salata and Worsley are graduates of Butler Senior High and Covert, of Lincoln in Ellwood City.

Covert, Downing and Salata are business administration students. Marquardt is enrolled in the college’s computer information systems-networking and cybersecurity program; and Worsley, in business management.

Voloch, Moniteau, is a psychology student.

BC3 earned its seventh automatic berth in the national championship tournament by winning its seventh NJCAA Division III Region 20 championship in May.

Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.