Monday, October 04, 2004

CALHOUN COUNTY, Ala. (Oct. 4, 2004) - The East Tennessee State women's golf team shot a team total of 313 and currently leads by five strokes after first round play Monday at the Jacksonville State Gamecock Golf Classic, which is being held on the par-73, 5,995-yard Silver Lakes Golf Course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

The Lady Bucs made it to the top of the leaderboard thanks to outstanding individual Top 10 performances from junior Ashley Barton (Seffner, Fla.), freshmen Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Columbia) and Maria Ringdahl (Kalmar, Sweden), and senior Danielle O'Reilly (Whistler, Bristish Columbia). Barton was the most impressive, finishing the day tied atop the leaderboard with a first-round score of 76, while Giraldo is currently tied for fifth at 78 and Ringdahl finished the day tied for seventh at 79. Meanwhile, O'Reilly finished tied for ninth with an 80.

"We're very proud of what we accomplished today in the first round," said ETSU head coach Stefanie Reynolds, whose team is looking for its second tournament victory in program history and its ninth top 5 effort in its last 12 events. "We played as a team today and we have to continue that tomorrow if we want to take home another tournament championship."

The Bucs lead host Jacksonville State by five strokes, followed by Birmingham-Southern at 320, New Orleans in fourth at 329 and South Alabama in fifth at 332. Individually, Barton is tied with Jacksonville State's Marilen Fernandez-Ruiz. The two hold the lead over third-place Shauna McVay of Troy State and Shelley McGraw of Birmingham-Southern.

Final round play will conclude on Tuesday, with teams scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m.