FOREST, Va. -- Opening up a ten-stroke lead on the first day of the 7th VSGA Women's Intercollegiate Championship, the Christopher Newport women's golf team was led by an impressive contingent at the top of the leaderboard. Four Captains are tied for the lead with a seven-over 79 in the first round including
Sara McCaskill,
Gabi McGehee,
Julia Pelletier, and
Katie Watson.
Playing at the London Downs Club in Forest, Va., the Captains fired a 29-over 317 as a group to lead the team standings by ten strokes. Lynchburg (+39) is in second place with Southern Virginia (+67) and Sweet Briar (+106) rounding out the team leaderboard after 18 holes.
All eight Captains are in the top half of the individual leaderboard with the aforementioned foursome leading the way.
Taylor Davis (+8) is one stroke behind the group and tied for seventh while
Maddie Cameron (+9) is tied for ninth with an 81. Rounding out the Christopher Newport contingent were
Cassie Sengul (+13) and
Maggie Umphlet (+13) are tied for 12th.
McCaskill, playing as an individual, fired her second lowest round of the season with the seven-over 79. She scored birdie on the par five 4th hole and recorded 11 pars in the first round of action.
Matching her freshman classmate with a 79, McGehee also put together a strong opening round to take a spot at the top of the leaderboard. The rookie dropped in a birdie three on the par four 10th hole and added nine pars. Seniors
Julia Pelletier and
Katie Watson matched their freshmen teammates by going out in 38 strokes and combing back in with 41. Both players were just two over on the front while Pelletier dropped in a birdie four on the par five 4th, like McCaskill. Watson had a team-high 13 pars in the round including a run of six straight on the front.
Rounding out the team scoring performance was sophomore
Taylor Davis. Davis birdied the par three 2nd hole and had eight pars in her first round.
Maddie Cameron served as the drop score on day one despite a solid round that featured 11 pars and the second best back nine recorded by the Captains' starting five on Monday.
McCaskill led the trio of individual players but Sengul and Umphlet each had their highlights. Umphlet pieced together the best run of the day for the Captains with seven straight pars on the front nine between holes 2 and 8. She then added par on three more holes on the back nine to finish the day with a career-low 85. Sengul, playing in just her second event as a Captain, shot an 85 with six pars in the round.
The team will return to the course on Tuesday for the second round starting at 1:30 p.m. Live scoring at the event is available and the link can be found on the women's golf schedule at CNUsports.com.
