By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

CRESWELL, Ore. -- Lexi Towner (Fr., Chico, CA/Chico HS) of Willamette University shot an 85 in the first round of the NWC Fall Classic in women's golf on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Emerald Valley Golf Club and Resort. Towner ended the round in 17th place out of 41 golfers.

Maddi Barnett (Jr., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) of Willamette carded a 95 in the first round.

Whitman College led the team standings with a score of 311. George Fox University was just one stroke from the lead at 312. Lewis & Clark College was third at 325, while Whitworth University held fourth place at 351 and Pacific Lutheran University was fifth at 352.

Pacific University followed in sixth place at 364, Linfield College was seventh at 380, and University of Puget Sound was eighth at 405. Willamette did not enter a complete team.

Shiyang Fan of Whitman and Sydney Maluenda from George Fox were tied at the top of the leaderboard with scores of 75 in the first round. Lou Points from Whtman was in third place at 77. Iris Kawada of GFU and Annie McCutchan of L&C were tied for fourth at 78.

Three golfers -- Rachel Drgastin from George Fox, Briana Finau of Pacific, and Phoebe Nguyen from Whitman -- shared sixth place at 79. Kristin Elich of GFU, Lewis & Clark's Mady Rhodenbaugh, and Hannah Roh from Whitman were all tied for ninth place with matching scores of 80.

The tournament will conclude on Sunday, Oct. 9 with the second round. Competition will resume with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. (PDT).

The NWC Fall Classic is one of three tournaments used to determine the overall NWC champion. The Fall Classic is worth one-fourth of the overall title, with the NWC Spring Classic also counting for one-fourth. The NWC Tournament counts for one-half of the title.