Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Three members of the Adams State College women’s golf team posted scores in the 80’s and are in the top 20 of the individual standings after the first day of the Mustang Intercollegiate, which got underway Monday here in windy and cold conditions at the tough and heralded University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course.
Led by Rachel Reiling (Littleton, Colo.), who posted an 86 to stand in an 11th place tie, the Grizzlies carded a team score of 354 and are in sixth place amongst seven teams heading into Tuesday’s second and final round. However, the Grizzlies are just five shots out a third place tie in unusually tight team standings.
NAIA power Lubbock Christian (Texas), ranked ninth in the country, has four players in the top 10 of the individual standings, who combined for a 330 team score. Meanwhile, all six NCAA Division II and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the field, including host Western New Mexico are all within 15 shots of one another.
Colorado Mesa leads that group and is second overall at 342 while the host Mustangs and Colorado State-Pueblo are tied for third at 349 while Colorado Christian is fifth, just four shots up on the Grizzlies. Regis is behind the Grizzlies by three shots and stands seventh at 357.
This is the first tournament of the spring portion of the 2011-12 season for many of the RMAC teams, including Adams State.
Although the Grizzlies’ team score was their highest of the nine single-round scores of the campaign thus, the Grizzlies were not alone in their struggles. Conditions were so tough that only 19 total birdies were made throughout the day and nearly half of the 35-woman field posted scores of 90 or higher.
In addition, not a single player in the women’s field was able to birdie or par the long 325-yard, par-3 fifth hole on the track that played at 5,858 yards and as a par-71 layout for the women.
Eight men’s teams, including the Grizzlies, also played 36 holes on the same course, which used a 7,324-yard, par-72 layout for their division of the annual tournament.
Reiling is tied with CSU-Pueblo’s Dominique Dinallo and is just one shot behind a 3-way tie for eighth place.
Meanwhile, fellow Grizzly freshman Maressa McClintock (Centennial, Colo.) posted an 88 and is tied for 15th. McClintock made both of the Grizzlies’ birdies on Monday and is tied for the tournament lead in that category with Colorado Christian’s Erin Hayes and Colorado Mesa’s Jessica Berve. McClintock also leads the tournament in par-3 scoring as she was the only player in the field to birdie the 11th hole and was one of just two to post a 2 on Hole No. 3. In total, McClintock played the five par 3’s in 1-under par.
Reiling shined on the longer holes and is tied for 10th in par-5 scoring after playing those four holes in just 3-over par.
The Grizzlies’ Rachel Dyess (Richmond, Texas) also had a respectable day and is tied for 17th after carding an 89. She made seven pars throughout the day.
Grizzly sophomore Kyra Garrison (Farmington, N.M.) did the same but also posted some high numbers en-route to a 91, which has her in a tie for 23rd.
Freshman Taylor Chalmers (Midlothian, Texas), playing as an individual carded a 93 in just her third tournament round of the season and is tied for 28th while Taelor Mullins (Monte Vista, Colo.) struggled to a 104, which was thrown out of the Grizzlies’ team score under the normal “Play 5, Count 4” scoring format.
Lubbock Christian’s Anna Schopp leads the individual standings after posting a 77. Western New Mexico’s Haley Raymond was just one shot off that pace at 78 while Berve stands third at 79. They were the only three players to break 80 and will play together along with CSU-Pueblo’s Trisha Vinci in the final grouping of the day on Tuesday, set for a 10 a.m. tee time.
Ten 3 and 4-player groups will tee off in 10-minute increments off of Hole No. 10 on Tuesday morning starting at 8:30 a.m. The Grizzlies’ five team scorers will be a part of those first five groups, in reverse order of their Monday scores while Chalmers will be in the sixth group to follow Reiling, who will play alongside Colorado Christian’s Maria Manrique, in fourth place after a Monday round of 81, and Regis team-leader Alex Semanko, who carded an 87 on Monday.
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