HOUSTON, Texas -- Finishing strong with a one-under run through the second nine holes, Christopher Newport junior Lauren Sims (+17) shaved five strokes off her first-round score and moved into the top-75 after day two of the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships. 

The Captains' junior finished the first 36 holes in 161 strokes, pairing her first round 83 with a 78 on day two. The six-over 78 is tied for the fourth best score ever recorded by a Christopher Newport player in the NCAA Championships. 

In Wednesday's second round, Sims picked up a par in her first hole, the 340-yard Par 4 10th, before posting a seven-over run through her first nine holes. Making the turn with 43 strokes, Sims started to make her move up the leaderboard with a spectacular spurt on the front nine. She secured a streak of five straight pars on holes 1-5 and then picked up a stroke on the pack with a birdie on the 319-yard Par 4 sixth. After a bogey on seven, she closed with another par and her third birdie of the day with a three on the 362-yard Par 4 ninth hole. 

She currently sits at 17-over par with a 161 (83-78) through the first two rounds. The field will be trimmed to the top-15 teams and low-scoring six individuals not on those 15 teams after Thursday's third round. 

Sims will tee off at 1:20 p.m. with a pair of familiar faces as she continues to play with Emma Thorman (IWU), who she has played with the last two days, and Emily Brubaker (Lynchburg), with whom the Captains have faced in multiple tournaments this year. 

Live scoring for the event is hosted on Golfstat, with the link provided on the CNU Women's Golf page at CNUsports.com. 

After 36 holes, Aliea Clark (-2) from NYU leads the individual leaderboard as one of two players with under par scores. Emory (+12) is at the top of the team leaderboard with a 14-stroke advantage on Pomona-Pitzer (+26) headed into the third round.