WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Playing on the Par 71 track at Ford's Colony in Williamsburg, Va., the Christopher Newport men's golf team fired a five-over 289 as all five starts finished at 74 or better. Leading the way was junior Nick Alexander (-1) with the first round lead after 18 holes. 

As a team, the Captains are three strokes ahead of Bridgewater at the top of the leaderboard. McDaniel (+13), Virginia Wesleyan (+16), and a tie for fifth between Drew (+17) and Dickinson (+17) rounds out the top five. 

Alexander fired his second round under par this season and was the ony player in the 60-man field to finish under on Sunday. He sank seven birdies and added seven pars in the round including a impressive run on holes 16-18 with back-to-back-to-back birdies. 

The other three counting scores for CNU on day one were two-over 73's from Jimmy Spallone, Fischer Leggitt, and Jacob Foti. The Captains' group is tied for seventh and just three off the pace set by Alexander. Patrick O'Rourke was just one back of that trio at three-over with a 74, tied for 12th on the individual leaderboard. 

Spallone birdied the 540-yard par five first hole and added another birdie on the 533-yard par five 15th. The freshman also added a team-high 13 pars to record another standout performance in the early portion of his career. Speaking of young careers, Leggitt also birdied the first and added another birdie on the 356-yard par four 18th while adding 12 pars. At one point, Leggitt scored par or better on 10 of 11 straight holes. 

Foti logged an impressive back nine with eight pars and one birdie when he dropped in a bird on the 170-yard par three 14th. He also birdied the 393-yard par four 5th hole and finished out the day with a 73. 

Playing as individuals, Connor Wood (+4) and J.P. Carr (+7) also concluded the first day of play on a beautiful Fall afternoon on Sunday. Carr is tied for 35th and Wood is tied for 22nd. Each sank two birdies in the round while Wood dropped in 12 pars and Carr added 10. 

Additionally, the Captains entered a 'B' team into the event that was led by Stephen Patterson (+6) and Charles Valiulis (+6). Nathan Smith (+7) and Paxton Ihm (+9) rounded out the counting scores while Owen Taylor (+10) was just one stroke back of chipping in his performance. 

The 11-team field will return to the course on Monday to close out the 36-hole event.