Tuesday, April 11, 2006

DEBARY, Fla. (April 11, 2006) - Improving on their first round score by 12 strokes, the ETSU women's golf team carded a second round 310 to jump from fifth place to second during the second round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships Tuesday at the DeBary Golf and Country Club.

The Lady Bucs matched tournament leader Campbell at 310, meaning ETSU still trails in the team competition by 10 strokes and needs an outstanding effort in Wednesday's final round. Three ETSU players currently stand in the top-10 led by the remarkably consistent senior Ashley Barton (Seffner, Fla.), who has carded 26 pars to post a two-day total of 149 and is currently in second-place by five strokes behind Campbell's Alejandra Shaw.

Along with Barton, sophomore Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) improved by five strokes over her first round score and is third at 155, while freshman Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales) also improved by five strokes and is currently ninth. Other ETSU results include a 26^th-place standing for senior Laura Diaz (Aguadilla, P.R.) and sophomore Maria Ringdahl (Oland, Sweden) is currently 43^rd on the leaderboard.

Final round play in the A-Sun Championships will begin early Wednesday. The tournament winner will earn an automatic trip to the NCAA Regionals. For more on the ETSU women's golf team and its play in the championship, visit ETSUBucs.com or AtlanticSun.org.