CU's Powers Tied for Lead; CU Fourth After First Day at NAIA National Preview
Day 1 Scores
LINCOLN, Neb.—Playing among the elite nationally, Concordia women's golfer
Sunny Powers (Medford, Ore./North Medford H.S.) sits tied atop the leaderboard after the first day of competition at the NAIA National Preview on Monday, while the entire Concordia women's golf team sits alone in fourth.
Powers carded a 3-over par 74 in the only round of competition on Monday, putting her tied for the individual lead with Lubbock Christian's Sinae Montoya and Anna Schopp.
Powers put herself atop the leaderboard with a steady round on Monday, as the returning first-team NAIA All-American finished with 15 pars and just three bogeys.
Powers' performance becomes even more impressive though, when considered it came against some of the best players in the NAIA.
Like it sounds, the NAIA National Preview serves as the preview tournament for this year's NAIA Women's Golf National Championship, which will be held on the exact same golf course in May 2013.
With those stakes on hand, some of the best women's golf programs across the NAIA entered the tournament, including three teams who finished in the top 10 at last season's NAIA National Championship.
Those three teams stand 1-2-3 after the first day of the NAIA National Preview, with Concordia, who finished 12th at last season's national tournament, right behind in fourth.
Overall, Lubbock Christian leads the tournament after carding an 18-over par 302 on Monday. Behind them, William Woods sits in second after a first round 309, while Wayland Baptist sits third at 315.
Concordia, meanwhile, sits nine strokes off of Wayland Baptist in fourth at 324, three strokes ahead of William Penn and Bellevue, who sit tied for fifth.
Powers' strong opening round helped lead the Cavs to their current fourth-place position, though the Cavaliers' other four golfers at the tournament all finished with strong rounds in the 80s.
Jennifer Gibbons (Molalla, Ore./Molalla H.S.), who eagled the par 4 10th hole on Monday, finished as the team's No. 2 golfer, shooting a 10-over par 81 to finish tied for 19th overall. Behind her,
Madison Alamillo (Battle Ground, Wash./Battle Ground H.S.) finished tied for 22nd with a 12-over 83, while
Patricia Little (Portland, Ore./David Douglas H.S.) finished tied for 33rd with a 15-over par 86.
Finally,
Holly Winburn (Boise, Idaho/Capital H.S.) finished tied for 41st with a 17-over par 88 as the Cavs' fifth golfer.
The tournament will conclude with a final 18 holes tomorrow, Sept. 25. Live stats for the final round of play will be available
here.