By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

RIDGEFIELD, WASH. -- The Willamette University women's golf team was in fifth place at the end of the first round of the Northwest Conference Fall Classic on Saturday, Oct. 27 at Tri-Mountain Golf Course. Willamette achieved a team score of 365 and was just 15 strokes out of second place. George Fox University dominated the field in the first round with a team score of 314 for a 36-stroke lead.

GFU was followed on the team leaderboard by Whitman College at 350. Linfield College and Whitworth University each shot 357 to tie for third place. Willamette trailed the Wildcats and the Pirates by eight strokes.

Pacific Lutheran held sixth place at 393, a total of 28 strokes behind the Bearcats. Pacific University was seventh at 401 and the University of Puget Sound was eighth at 440.

Kelsey Morrison from George Fox was the leader after one round in the medalist race. She carded a 75 during the round and owned a four-shot lead over teammate Abby Mann, who moved into second place with a 79. Emily Guthrie of Whitworth, Whitney Jammerman of GFU, and Kiana Lumanlan of GFU were tied for third place after each golfer achieved a score of 80.

The top individual golfer for Willamette over the first 18 holes was Taneesh Kaur Sra (Fr., Freemont, CA/Mission San Jose HS), who concluded the round tied for 10th place with an 87. Mckenzie Weinhold (So., Placerville, CA/El Dorado HS/U. of Nevada-Reno) from Willamette shot a 90 and was tied for 14th place.

LettaJoe Gallup (So., Alameda, CA/Holy Names HS) finished with a 92 for Willamette. Elise Levy (Fr., Reno, NV/Bishop Monague HS) and Nicole Smith (So., Portland, OR/Westview HS) both shot a 96.

Action in the NWC Fall Classic will continue with the final round on Sunday, Oct. 28 at Tri-Mountain.