By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

CANBY, Ore. -- Lexi Towner (So., Chico, CA/Chico HS) of Willamette University shot an 87 and was tied for 18th place on the first day of the Culturame Classic, hosted by George Fox University at the Willamette Valley Country Club on Saturday, Oct. 7. The tournament will conclude on Sunday, Oct. 8.

Four George Fox athletes topped the leaderboard. Janelle Decker and Kristin Elich were tied for first place with matching scores of 75. Iris Kawada shot a 77 and was third overall. Tianna Brown of GFU carded a 79 and was tied for fourth place with Phoebe Nguyen from Whitman College.

Shiyan Fan of Whitman, Briana Finau from Pacific University, and Caroline Ordian from University of Redlands (Calif.) were tied for sixth place at 79. Rachel Drgastin of George Fox and Annie McCutchan from Lewis & Clark College shared ninth place at 81. A total of 44 golfers are entered in the tournament.

Towner was one of three golfers from Willamette who competed on Saturday. Maddi Barnett (Sr., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) shot an 89 and Camy Pickworth (Fr., Columbus, OH/Columbus School For Girls) shot a 97.

George Fox led the team standings with a score of 305 for a 21-stroke margin. Whitman held second place at 326 and Whitworth University was third at 334. Redlands followed in fourth place at 341, with Lewis & Clark in fifth at 365, Pacific in sixth place at 378 and University of California, Santa Cruz in seventh place at 380. Willamette did not field a complete team.