HOUSTON, Texas - (RV) Oklahoma Christian men's golf completed its first tournament of the 2026 spring season, shooting a three-round 54-over 918 to finish 14th at the Houston Classic hosted by Southern Nazarene.

The Eagles saw their best round across the two days their first time through the course on day one. Led by true freshman Lenni Perala's 2-under 70, which was tied for the eighth best opening round in the 90-player field, OC carded a 14-over 302 to sit in 13th before back-to-back 20-over 308 rounds.

For the tournament, Perala tied with Kyler Hemelstrand, who was playing as an individual, for the 54-hole low of 7-over 223. After Perala shot his first-round 70, Hemelstrand recorded a 1-under 71 in round two, highlighted by 12 pars and four birdies. The Salem, Ore., native finished with a team-high 35 pars for the week.

With rounds of 2-under 70 and 6-over 78 in his pocket, L. Perala was one of nine players in the field to log an eagle for a final-round 3-over 75. The Lempaala, Finland, native was able to shave off two strokes from his scorecard on the par 5, 564-yard 8th hole after birdying it each of the two previous rounds.

Juan Repetto finished with the second-best score of OC's five-bag with a 12-over 228, recording 34 pars for the most of the maroon-and-gray's countable scorers. Repetto turned around and responded to a 7-over 79 in the opening round with an even-par 72 across the second 18-hole stint. 

Vertti Perala finished as the third Eagle with a 15-over 231 after seeing his best round of the tournament in the final 18 with a 3-over 75 with 13 pars on his final-round scorecard. V. Perala matched Repetto and Colin Richards for the most pars by an Eagle in a single round across the two days of competition.

Francisco Bonavia and Colin Richards completed the OC five-bag with a 20-over 236 and 28-over 244 to round out the first tournament of the 2026 season.

(RV) Oklahoma Christian will have the rest of this month off from competition before traveling to Las Vegas, Nev., for the Las Vegas Desert Classic hosted by Missouri-St. Louis Mar. 1-3.