The Tritons, who have struggled this season with the youth of their squad, placed 11th out of 20 squads last weekend at the 39th Annual Hanny/Stanislaus Invitational. But in the last meet of their regular season, the Tritons carded a tremendous score of 866, the lowest result in UCSD’s 12 years of membership in the CCAA.

UCSD finished third in a field of eight teams, behind No. 7 nationally ranked Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus, and just two points ahead of fourth place No. 6 Cal State Monterey Bay.

Freshman Jay Lim was the top finisher for the Tritons with a score of 211, just one point behind first place — a three-way tie between Chico State’s Kyle Souza and Eric Frazzetta and Cal State Monterey Bay’s Alex Sobstad. Lim finished five under par, tied for fourth place with Cal State Stanislaus’ Rob Damschen.

“[Lim] shot 66 with a double in the last round so it could have been even better, but his performance led the way for us and motivated the others to keep their rounds together,” Okasaki said.

Sophomore Jacob Williams carded the second lowest score for the Tritons, finishing one under par with a score of 215, good for eighth place.

“[Williams] played great the first day and struggled in round three, but held his round together for us just enough to move into third,” Okasaki said.

The third place finish was not only UCSD’s best showing at the CCAA tournament, but it may also qualify the team to advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regional. The field will be announced later this week.

“The team played very well, especially under pressure in the last round, knowing the importance of staying ahead of East Bay and Sonoma to get to Regionals,” Okasaki said. “Overall a great performance from everyone that should get us to regionals.”

The Tritons are currently ranked No. 10 in the West Region, and have not qualified for the national tournament since 2007.