By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
JORDAN, Minn. — Kyle Brodt (Roseville, Minn.) has been the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's golf team's leader all season long.
 
So it should come as no surprise that the Cardinal senior was back in his familiar position Saturday afternoon.
 
Brodt carded a four-over-par 76 and is sitting in 14^th place after the opening round of the 54-hole Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships at Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Course.
 
Fueled by Brodt's 75, the Cardinals carded an opening-round 315, leaving them in eighth, six shots back of Concordia.
 
St. Thomas and St. Olaf are the first-day team leaders, carding identical 291s, leaving them seven shots in front of third-place Augsburg (298), with Saint John's (301) and Bethel (305) rounding out the top five.
 
Along with Brodt's four-over-par effort, the Cardinals also got a 78 from Bryce Galewski (Winona, Minn.), 81s from Joe Abdo (Edina, Minn.) and Tyler Dove (Hudson, Wis.), and an 82 from Juan Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia).
 
St. Olaf's Kristian Woie fired the day's low round, a four-under 68, giving him a two-shot lead over Emmet Herb of St. Thomas, Augsburg's Brett Buckingham and Jacob Pedersen of Gustavus.
 
Saint Mary's returns to Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Course on Sunday for the second round of the 54-hole conference championships.