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By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida -- A late surge Tuesday vaulted UT Arlington to a season-best runner-up finish at the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship. Aaron Guanlao also had his best showing by tying for eighth in the league's signature event.

The Mavericks began the final round tied for fourth and dropped several spots in the standings before a nice run on the back 9 moved UTA up the leaderboard. The Mavs shot a 1-over-par 285, the second best round of the day, to complete a plus-13 865.

"Great rally today by the boys," assistant coach Stuart Deane said. "Very proud of the effort and thrilled for the seniors to finish on a high note. After such a slow start in the first round when the course was there for the taking, the team put it into overdrive when the course played its toughest. The boys really showed how talented they are the harder it played. Great event, great semester, more importantly, great guys."

UT Arlington hadn't placed higher than fourth in any of the previous 10 tournaments during the 2014-15 season. The Mavericks were third at the Sun Belt Championship last year.  

Guanlao had his best performance in a collegiate event after putting the finishing touches on a 2-over 215. The freshman from Haslet started the third round tied for sixth before carding a plus-1 72 at Raven Golf Club.

"Pleased with my first year at UTA," Guanlao said. "I've worked hard all year and am glad to put myself in a place to compete for conference. Although I didn't score like I wanted today, I'm excited my future career as a Mav."

Senior Cash Wilkerson tied for 11th after shooting even-par 71s in each of his last two rounds. Senior Jake Argento fired a 2-under 69 on the final day to climb 20 spots to a tie for 21st. All five Mavericks finished in the top 30, with freshman Jake Greenspoon (T27, 220) and senior Joss Gosling (T29, 222) rounding out the team.

For the seniors, Tuesday's strong finished capped their UTA careers.

"I'm proud of the way my team competed and fought to give ourselves a chance today," Wilkerson said. "I've enjoyed my time at UTA, and look forward to the bright future with Guanlao and Greenspoon."

Georgia Southern swept both the team title and individual medalist with Kim Koivu.