SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.) shot a one-over 72 to tie for first place as the Carson-Newman women's golf team placed fifth at 36-over after one round of play in the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate at the Sevierville Golf Club in Sevierville, Tenn on Sunday.
"I'm excited to see how Elizabeth finishes the tournament after such a terrific start today," said coach Suzanne Strudwick. "I would like to see the rest of the team settle down and score much better during the next two days. They need to believe in themselves more."
England is currently sharing the lead with Tennessee Tech's Arianna Clemmer and Annika Gino of Lee University. The junior has four birdies to her credit through 18 holes, more than any other student-athlete in the tournament. She's also tied for second in scoring on both par fours and par fives, averaging a par on both. Her stroke average on par threes also tied her for fourth.
Allie Fletcher (Cumming, Ga.) was the second-best golfer for the Eagles on day one, as she tied for 18th at +10. Fletcher was at her best on Sevierville's longest holes, with a mark of one-over on par fives, tied for the competition's fifth-best. She's also one of just 14 golfers with multiple birdies on her scorecard.
Sitting tied for 27th is Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.) after a day in which she collected eight pars. She's also tied for 17th on par threes with a stroke average of 3.50.
Just one stroke behind Hayes is Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.), who is tied for 29th. C-N's fifth score came from Jessica Hart (Roanoke, Va.), who is at +18 after carding an 89 and is even with five other golfers at 37th.
Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), who is participating in the tournament as an individual is even with Fletcher at 18th following her first competitive round of golf this spring. She is also tied with her teammate with a 5.20 stroke average on par fives and a pair of birdies.
The Lee University Flames, who entered the event ranked No. 15 in Division II according to Golfstat, are in the lead after day one at 20-over, five shots ahead of the host college, Tennessee Tech, and 13 strokes up on Belmont University. The Evansville Purple Aces are in fourth, one stroke behind Belmont with Carson-Newman rounding out the top five.
The tournament's second round is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. A recap along with results will be posted on cneagles.com.
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