SANTA CRUZ >> Eighteen holes at Pasatiempo Golf Club stand between University of Arizona junior Filip Jakubcik and a piece of Western Intercollegiate history on Wednesday.

Jakubcik has a chance to become the event’s first back-to-back champion since Cal State Los Angeles’ Arne Dokka won in 1965 and ’66, as well as the first two-time winner since Stanford’s Joel Kribel won his second crown in ’99.

“I definitely do not want to think about it,” Jakubcik said. “Just keep trying to do the exact same thing I’m doing. Definitely, don’t think about the outcome.”

He fired a 4-under-par 66 in Tuesday’s second round and sits at 9 under through 36 holes.

“It was great,” Jakubcik said. “Today, I believe, I made two bogeys. Other than that it was great, pretty flawless. Everything was working solid.”

Jakubcik said he prepares for every tournament the same way. For whatever reason, everything seems to fall into place once he steps foot onto the first tee box in Santa Cruz. “I do love the course. That’s probably it,” he said.

Jakubcik has some company, though. UNLV fifth-year senior Caden Fioroni also shot his second straight 66 and is in second place at 8 under overall.

Four players — Arizona junior Zach Pollo, Washington sophomore Finn Koelle, Pepperdine junior Mahanth Chirravuri, and Stanford junior Nathan Wang — are tied for third, three shots off of Jakubcik’s pace at 6 under. Chirravuri and Wang each shot 65 in the second round and Pollo and Koelle shot 66.

Pollo, who had six bogeys and eight birdies in his opening round, was considerably more steady. Exceptional, really. He had four birdies in his bogey-free second round.

“I think I put myself in better spots,” Pollo said. “That’s golf. I just wanted to do the same things and stay below the hole a little more; that’s what kept the bogeys off the card.”

Taiga Kobayashi of Nihon University in Japan followed up his opening 65 with an even-par 70. He sits alone in seventh at 5 under.

San Diego State junior Chanachon Chokprajakchat, UC Irvine junior Rei Harashima, and BYU sophomore Peter Kim enter the final round tied for eighth at 4 under.

Action resumes Wednesday at 8 a.m. Washington’s Koelle tees off at 10:24 a.m., and UNLV’s Fioroni tees off at 11:36 a.m. Arizona’s Jakubcik, Stanford’s Wang, Pepperdine’s Chirravuri, and SDSU’s Chokprajakchat tees off in the final foursome at 1 p.m.

After shooting 76 in the opening round, Cal’s Ziqin Zhou jumped 63 spots on the leaderboard with his 6-under 64, one stroke shy of matching the single-round tournament record. He was poised to break the mark but carded a double-bogey 5 on hole No. 18. He shot 6 under on the front nine after carding an eagle-3 on the 502-yard ninth hole.

Pepperdine, seeking its first tournament win of the season before heading to the West Coast Conference Championships, shot 8 under on the day and took over the lead at 6 under. First-round leader San Diego State shot 8 over and dropped to second, two strokes behind the Waves. Arizona holds down third at 3 under.

It’s a coveted title. Koelle said his coach and the Huskies refer to the Western Intercollegiate as “The Masters of college golf.” (Not only did the Masters, featuring several WI alums, end Sunday, both Augusta National, home of the Masters, and Pasatiempo are both Alister MacKenzie designs.)

Pollo said it’s a “blessing” that he’s in contention. His Wildcats are battling for the team title, too.

“It’s Pasatiempo, it’s a great course,” Pollo said. “Excited to be here. It means a lot. I don’t think we’ve won it yet, so as team we’re trying to get our first win here.”

Defending champion Stanford and Nihon are tied for fourth at 1 under. Cal holds down eighth at 8 over, and tournament host San Jose State climbed two spots to 12th with a 26-over total.

Daniel Heo leads Cal at 3 under, and Alaric Mercie, playing as an individual, leads San Jose State at 2 over. He’s tied for 29th with teammate Keshav Mungali, and eight others.

Pepperdine’s Byungho Lee shot an eagle-2 on the 346-yard seventh hole.

Golfers to continued to charge on the ninth hole. Eight players carded eagle in the the first round and that total increased to 12 in the second round.

Hole No. 13, another par-5 checking in at 532 yards, was considerably more difficult. Six players eagled it on Monday, but only two accomplished the feat on Tuesday.

Koelle carded bogey on two of the first three holes, but was dialed in the remainder of the round. He shot 6 under the rest of the way, with four birdies and an eagle on No. 13.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Koelle said. “The mindset is just like the first two days, stay patient and keep doing what I’m doing. I worked for it, so nice that it’s finally paying off.”

Koelle, who is attempting to become the first Husky to win medalist honors since Conner Robbins in 2002, said he isn’t focused on anyone but himself in the final round.

“I not looking at what other guys are doing,” he said. “If I’m doing my thing, I’ll see what happens.”