Despite less-than-ideal conditions, the Iowa Central men's golf team posted a strong round at their home invitational Friday.

The Tritons claimed the overnight lead with a 2-under 282, 12 shots ahead of Des Moines Area. Kirkwood and Mount Mercy are tied for third with Buena Vista fifth. The Iowa Central B team is eighth with a 319.

"We played a fantastic round Friday," Iowa Central head coach Kris Graewin said. "It was a lot of fun to watch all of our guys come together and play well. We had a couple of guys who were disappointed with a couple of shots but all in all, it was a great day for us.

"I challenged the guys after their rounds on Monday that they played really well at a golf course that they haven't played a lot before and (Friday) they stepped up to that challenge. Now there's another challenge of backing it up Saturday."

Atop the individual leaderboard sits three Tritons in Austin Erickson, Joe Forsting and Justin Schipper. All three fired 1-under rounds of 70 at the Fort Dodge Country Club.

"Austin has been playing really well lately and he had a couple of unlucky breaks too but was able to fight back and make a few birdies coming in," Graewin said. "Justin is as steady a player as we have and if he would have had a few more putts drop, he could have shot mid-60s. Joe has been a stalwart for our lineup the last two years and it was great to see him come out and play like he knows he can."

Liam Ross is tied for fifth, Kyle Wille sits tied for 15th and Simon Mitchell is tied for 19th.

"I was very proud of our second five as well," Graewin said. "They wanted to come out and show that we aren't just five players deep and that we have a lot of competition in the program. We've had some guys battling injuries as well and they gutted it out and I couldn't be more proud of our effort."

Erickson had five birdies on his round, Forsting recorded four and Schipper three. 

The second round takes place Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

-By Dana Becker