Eric Edmunds languished in the middle of the pack following the opening round of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys golf tournament at Cornell University’s course in Ithaca. But Edmunds turned that around with one of the finest 18-hole stretches of his career Monday afternoon to rise to fifth place in the final standings – and earn a trip to the Federation tournament, too. Starting out, Edmunds could only manage an 83, 11 shots over par, on the Robert Trent Jones-designed Cornell layout, just one shot better than Skaneaeteles teammate Jeff Baldetti and tied for 40th in a 99-man field. As a response, Edmunds produced the tournament’s low round, hitting accurate irons and sinking long putts on his way to a three-under-par 69 to finish at 152. That still left Edmunds 10 shots back of the individual champion, Penfield’s Yarik Merkulov, whose 70 on Monday was just one behind Edmunds as he won with 142, one shot better than Brewster’s Michael Miller. Overall, Section III was fourth out of 11 teams with a total of 1,124 shots. Baldetti, with a second consecutive 84, finished at 168, tied for 56th. With this, Edmunds would join Merkulov, Miller, Gavin Hall (Pittsford Mendon), Austin Nowak (Lancaster) and Paul Andrews (Corning) advancing to this weekend’s Federation event at the famed Bethpage State Park Black course on Long Island, where the U.S. Open was played in 2002 and 2009.