WHEELING, W.Va.—Round three equals moving day at the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship. Denison entered Thursday's third round in fourth place but they still managed to rise one spot in the standings after another outstanding afternoon on the course. 

Denison fired an 18-hole team score of 290, marking the second-straight day of posting the second-best team number.  With one round remaining in the championship, Denison trails second-place Methodist University by two strokes and is 17 shots behind first-place Illinois Wesleyan.  They are three strokes in front of fourth-place Guilford and six shots ahead of fifth-place Emory.

Junior Marc Mitchell continued his consistently spectacular play on Thursday firing an even-par 71.  Mitchell opened the day with seven-straight pars on the Jones Course and moved to one-under after a birdie on the 517-yard, par-5 eighth hole.  A par on No. 9 allowed him to make the turn with a one-under-par 35.  On the back, Mitchell logged bogeys on No. 13 and No. 16 before ending his day with a birdie on the lengthy 465-yard par-4 finishing hole.  Mitchell is tied with Andre Chi (Methodist) and Jimmy Morton (Illinois Wesleyan) for the overall lead in the tournament at +2 (214).

The mark of a good team is that they pick each other up.  Yesterday Jesse Felker lifted up his teammates with a -4, 66.  Today, Sam Davis matched Mitchell with an even-par 71 aiding Denison's climb into third.  After opening with a bogey on the first, Davis birdied the par-5 fifth hole and followed that with one of the highlights of the tournament on No. 6.  After a big drive on the 420-yard, par-4 sixth hole, Davis had 120 to a pin situated on the on the left side.  Davis' shot started a little left but the wind brought it back toward the hole. It narrowly avoided the bunker, bounced twice before hitting the pin and dropping for an eagle.  Davis made the turn at -2. He gave two back on No. 12 but in dramatic fashion, in front of a large gallery on No. 18, sank a putt for birdie to finish at even-par.

Denison's third and fourth scores posted in round three were 74s from Ben Scherman and Will Grady. Scherman made the turn at +2 and promptly birdied No. 10.  He also joined his teammates Mitchell and Davis with crowd-pleasing birdies on the 18^th green. Scherman sits tied for 26^th place at 224 out of the cut down field of 95 golfers.

Grady logged his second-straight 74 with a gutsy performance that featured five birdies in the round. Grady is currently tied for 38^th at 226.  Wednesday's hero, Felker, finished as the fifth score at 84.

Denison will be paired in Friday's final group along with the leader, Illinois Wesleyan, and second-place Methodist. The tee times will begin at 9:20 a.m. and continue through 10 a.m.  Follow live scoring from Friday's final round here.