LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- The NM State men's golf program cruised to an eight stroke victory at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate hosted at the NMSU Golf Course.

Led by junior Garrison Smith (208, -5), the Aggies (+7, 859) held off Northern Colorado and UTRGV to earn the team title. Smith fired a final round 73 Tuesday to finish with a three round score of 208 (-5).

Christensen followed up yesterday's rounds of 64 and 66 with a three-over 73. The native of Germany fired a 203 (-10) for the event, finishing four shots ahead of teammate Rayhan Thomas who fired a third round 68 to finish at 207 (-6). Thomas leapfrogged Smith, who also fired a final round 73 to finish in 208 (-5).

Western New Mexico led by Adam Niles finished fourth (888, +36), followed by Houston Baptist (892, +40) and Incarnate Word (892, +40) who ended up tied for fifth. Air Force (894, +42) finished seventh, followed by Stephen F. Austin (904, +52), Western Illinois (924, +72), Southern Utah (928, +76) and Prairie View A&M (953,+101).

After two tough rounds yesterday, Steven Strasheim fired an even par 71 to finish tied for 30^th (+11), while Alvaro Morales made birdie on 15 and 17 to salvage a round of 73. Morales finished +1 overall which was good for solo seventh.

Scott Rescigno used an eagle on 15 to fire an even par 71 Tuesday to finish at +6 overall for the tournament.

In total four different Aggies finished in the top-10 of the player leaderboard: Smith, Morales, Matthew Jackman and Trey Diehl. Jackman recorded three birdies and just one bogey to fire a two-under round of 69. The performance vaulted the Englishman to solo eighth, while Trey Diehl fired a one-under round of 70 to finish tied for ninth.

HEAD COACH MIKE DIRKS:
"We did a nice job of finishing out the victory. We were tough at the end today when we needed to be in order to win the golf tournament. We played really well early and extended the lead out. Credit Northern Colorado and UTRGV. They fought back and put the pressure on us. Coming down the stretch we had three birdies on the long par-three 17 which was huge for us. And then we followed up with a few pars on 18 which you need to do to win. You need to finish to win, and we did that today. Garrison has played really well this fall, and he's had a really good fall. He's continuing to learn, and when he finally learns how to close the final round he's going to be special. Overall, we had some up and down rounds. To see Steven and Scott shoot 71 today was impressive. The hole locations were tough and the greens were fast. So we need more of that, especially playing at home, but today we told our guys they had to come to play. And that they needed to count. And they did that."

On his teams' performance during the fall season:
"I think we've played okay. We've shown people that we're better than we were. We have a lot of improving to do, but I think we can get there. We're a lot better than we have been and the finishes are showing that."  

UP NEXT:
The Aggies turn their sights to the spring championship season. The spring slate gets underway Jan. 24-25 at the Arizona Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Arizona.