Sophomore Dustin Sloat exercised the demons that plagued is freshman season last season at the 2003 Ironhorse Intercollegiate.

In a golf tournament that changed overnight thanks to mother nature, Sloat shot 71-69 through 36 holes and braved the conditions to post and win his first collegiate tournament Tuesday.

Sloat had the first-round lead in one his first collegiate tournaments last season but failed to hold on in the final two days of competition.

However, Sloat took advantage of solid scoring conditions to have a two-round score of 140 (-4) to hold a three-stroke lead over Tennessee State’s Robert Dinwiddie and Butler’s Jonathan Novak going into the final 18 holes of play.

However, the 96 players saw a completely different golf course than the other two days. With winds gusting up to 28 miles per hour and light rain off and on, the competitors knew focus and managing their games would be top priority.

At the end of Tuesday, the stroke average rose by five to 86.2. The conditions caused the mind set to change with only six scores under 80 in a tournament where just two day ago six scores were posted under par.

Sloat was able to handle the conditions enough to post a final-round 79 (which ended the day as the third lowest number) which gave the sophomore a four-stroke win.

Eastern Illinois brought a pair of teams to the tournament and spilt out the veterans and rookies.

The veteran team finished ninth and 24 strokes behind the winner Western Illinois but the rookies placed 10th and were led by Sloat and Ben Wochner. Wochner tied teammate Kyle Maxwell for 21st with a final score of (+18) 234.

Western Illinois were led by second-place Ryan Runser who shot a seven-over 223 but the Leathernecks had only a third of their scores over 80.