MADISON, Wis. – The transition from high school to college is supposed to be tough. Someone should tell that to Griffin Barela.

The freshman from Lakewood, Colorado capped of his first tournament as a Badger with a 69 in Tuesday's final round of the Badger Invitational at University Ridge Golf Course. It was Barela's third consecutive sub-par round as he finished the tournament at -5 to earn a share of eighth place.

Barela wasn't the only Badger to go low on Tuesday as two other UW golfers broke par. Senior Eddie Wajda finished with a 2-under par 70 while sophomore Pete Kuhl shot his best round of the tournament with a 1-under 71. Add in Nick Robinson's even-par 72 and the Badgers finished 6-under par for the day. That score propelled them up two spots in the team standings as UW placed fifth.

"I was really proud of how the guys bounced back after yesterday," UW head coach Michael Burcin said. "We have really good depth this year and that was on display this week. Four of our five guys shot under par at some point in the tournament and Nick was even today. It was a good start to the season."

After starting his college career with two bogeys in his first five holes, Barela made just two more bogeys over his final 49 holes of the tournament. On Tuesday he made three birdies and no bogeys to climb up five spots on the leaderboard and collect a top-10 finish.

"Griffin played really well for his first time out," Burcin said. "He definitely didn't look like someone who had never played college golf."

Junior Jordan Hahn, who was in third place entering the final round, birdied three of his final six holes to finish the day with a 76. His 2-under par total earned him a share of 15th place.

Five other Badgers competed as individuals. Three freshmen made their UW debuts as Sam Anderson (+7) tied for 47th place, Tom Calbi (+15) tied for 80th and Robbie Morway (+17) tied for 85th. Senior Michael Abrahamson shot an even par 72 in the final round to join Anderson in a tie for 47th and junior Brett Robinson tied for 96th. 

TEAM SCORES
1. Texas A&M (-25)
2. Kansas (-19)
3. Marquette (-17)
4. Notre Dame (-14)
5. Wisconsin (-4)
T6. Iowa State (-2)
T6. Nevada (-2)
8. Kansas State (+10)
9. Illinois State (+12)
10. UAB (+15)
11. Butler (+16)
12. Oakland (+23)
13. Rutgers (+25)
14. Nebraska (+33)
15. South Dakota State (+49)
16. Loyola-Chicago (+72)

UW INDIVIDUALS
T8. Griffin Barela, (-5) 71-71-69=211 
T15. Jordan Hahn, (-2) 67-71-76=214
T33. Nick Robinson, (+4) 74-74-72=220 
T33. Eddie Wajda, (+4) 73-77-70=220 
T47. Sam Anderson (Ind.), (+7) 75-73-75=223
T47. Michael Abrahamson (Ind.), (+7) 77-74-72=223
T70. Pete Kuhl, (+11) 78-78-71=227
T80. Tom Calbi (Ind.), (+15) 80-76-75=231
T85. Robbie Morway (Ind.), (+17) 76-81-76=233