WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Hosting a talented field at the Kingsmill Resort & Spa River Course, the Christopher Newport women's golf team welcomed 14 teams and 79 of the nation's best players to the Inaugural Historic Triangle Invitational on Monday morning for the first of two rounds. The Captains (+29) are in tenth place after the first day after being led by seniors Katie Watson (+6) and Julia Pelletier (+7). 

The field includes 12 teams either in the Division III Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll or at least receiving votes in the latest rankings released on September 26. That includes the top three teams in the nation according to the poll in No. 1 Carnegie Mellon, No. 2 Emory, and No. 3 WashU. After 18 holes of play, Carnegie Mellon and Emory are tied for the team lead at 11-over par. 

The tournament is being played on the River Course at Kingsmill, where the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Golf National Championship was played last May. Emory won the team title and Carys Code (-1) captured the individual title. Code played strong again on Monday with a one-under 71 to tie for second behind Carnegie Mellon's Samantha Wang (-2). 

The Captains are locked in a tight grouping from third place to 10th with the eight teams separated by just 12 strokes. Denison (+17) is in third while third-ranked WashU (+28) is just one stroke ahead of the Captains in ninth place overall. 

The second nine holes was where the Captains made their move on Monday with Watson and Pelletier each finishing even through the second half of the day. Starting on the tenth hole, the Captains made the turn with Gabi McGehee (+8) and Maddie Cameron (+8) setting the pace. Rounding out the starting five, Taylor Davis (+14) had an exceptional front nine with eight pars. 

Watson was even through her first four holes with a birdie two on the 135-yard par three 13th but ran into trouble over the next three holes. She recovered well, assaulting the front nine with two birdies and five pars to finish the day in 27th place. Her other two birdies came on the 316-yard par four 4th hole and the 415-yard par five 9th hole, which finished out her round on Monday. She tied for the best round on Par 3 holes, posting a one-under 2.75 average on the four short holes. 

Pelletier had a slow start but finished on a torrid pace with par or better on her final eight holes. After making the turn to take on the front nine, the senior recorded three pars in a row, a birdie on the fifth, and finished with a run of four more pars. With the strong final burst, Pelletier climbed to 32nd heading into day two.  

Cameron tied for the team-lead with three birdies, sinking the first of the day on the 340-yard par four 11th hole. .She added a birdie on 18 and finished on nine under par with a four. The rookie added six pars to finish out the round with an 80. Her freshman classmate, McGehee, matched her eight-over 80 with a solid start, scoring par on eight of her first ten holes. She knocked in three more pars down the stretch and added a birdie four on the 466-yard par five 7th hole. 

Finally, Davis also finished strong with nine pars in her final ten holes to bounce back from a tough start. The senior ranked second behind only McGehee with ten total pars in the round and was one of only 26 players in the field to reach double digits in even holes. 

CNU also entered two individuals in the event in Maggie Umphlett (+16) and Sara McCaskill (+16). Umphlett dropped in a birdie two on the 132-yard par three 5th hole and posted seven pars in the match. McCaskill caught fire in the middle of the round with four straight pars and six in a nine-hole stretch. She closed out her round with the second-best score of the day on the back nine for CNU. 

The field will return to the course for a shotgun start on Tuesday to close out the event. Live scoring is available online with the link found on the women's golf schedule at CNUsports.com.