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 After 18 holes, Western Carolina leads its own Wachovia/Great Smokies Intercollegiate. |
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Wachovia-Great Smokies - First Round Complete Stats
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Waynesville, N.C. - Western Carolina junior Ashley Hovda fired a career-low 67 to lead the Lady Catamounts to a five-stroke lead after the first round of the Sixth Annual Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate at the par 72, 5,828-yard Waynesville Country Club.
Hovda's five-under par tally ranked as the second-best single-round, one-stroke behind teammate Brandy Andersen's round of 66 carded in 2002. She was the only player on the day to finish under par. It also ranks second on WCU's all-time individual rounds list.
Western's tournament-low 291 set a pair of records including the lowest single-round in the Great Smokies Intercollegiate, as well as an all-time school record for best single-round score. The Catamounts hold a six-stroke advantage over Murray State, who finished with a team tally of 297. The Racers were led by senior Santie Koch with a 72 (37-35), followed by Xavier in third, two strokes back at 299. Rounding out the top five were East Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech, tied in fourth at 301.
Koch stands in a three-way tie for the runner-up position, tied with freshman Taita Jreige of Xavier and sophomore Bianca Melone of Western Carolina who each came in at even par 72. A five-way tie for fifth place at one-over par, 73, trails the top four. The quadruple knot includes a pair from East Tennessee State in freshman Maria Ringdahl (35-38) and junior Ashley Barton (34-39), senior Morgan Olds from Elon (36-37), senior Sarah Sparks from Xavier (35-38), and junior Stephanie Hicks from Longwood University, who rallied from a 40 on the front nine to card a 33 on the back.
In all, nine individual and team single-round records were either tied or broken on Monday.
Highlighting the first day of competition was a hole-in-one by Cincinnati sophomore, Sarah Bires on the par three, 145-yard hole number two on the Blue Ridge course. Bires joins WCU's Andersen as the only other player to achieve the feat in the tournament's six-year history.
For Western Carolina, in addition to Hovda and Melone, freshman Kandy Carland shot a 75, tied for 16th, followed by defending tournament champion, Andersen, who carded a 77 to place in a tie for 32nd. Freshman Lucinda Davies shot 80 on the day to place in a tie for 67th after one.
The final round of the Wachovia-Great Smokies Women's Intercollegiate is set to begin on Tuesday, October 19 at 9:30 am with a shotgun start with first-round scores will determine the pairings.
Great Smokies Record Book - UPDATED for FINALSDownload Free Acrobat Reader
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