CARMEL, Ind. – Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) used a four-over day to pace No. 25 Carson-Newman into an eighth-place spot through the first two rounds at the UINDY Invitational on Monday.
As a whole, the Eagles were 12-over by the end of the morning round with a 300 but added on 10 shots to their team total by the end of the day. By the end of the morning, C-N was ahead of some of the top nationally-ranked teams including No. 1 Barry and No. 11 Grand Valley State. The Eagles head into Tuesday's final round with a 610 total, 34 shots over par.
"I was very excited about the morning round because we beat some really good teams," Carson-Newman coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "We did great in the first round but the mental toughness just was not there in the second. We need to get tougher in our practices for these 36-hole days.
"The other highly-ranked teams were improving in the second round, but we were falling back. If we're going to compete with those groups, we have to get mentally tougher, learn to stay ready and become more adaptable from morning to afternoon rounds."
Cummins sits 10 shots back from the lead in a tie for 14th thanks to rounds of 72 and 76. The sophomore was leading the group by the end of the first round, even for par in a tie for sixth. Through the morning round, she led the team with a trio of birdies and bogeys. She continued to lead the Orange and Blue despite a four-over outing in the afternoon.
Four shots behind Cummins on the leaderboard is Jayla Sims (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.), in a tie for 24th at eight-over. She moved up 16 spots on the leaderboard by the end of Monday after shooting a 78 in the morning followed by a 74 in the afternoon. The junior was the only Eagle in the starting lineup to make an improvement on her score from the first round to the second.
Sims was four-over through the first nine holes of the day before a triple bogey and birdie left her at six-over in the morning round. The later part of the day brought 15 shots for par, keeping her at two-over for the round. She is tied for second on par 3 scoring at one-under and shot the second-most par holes at 28.
Just one shot separated the remaining C-N starters through 36 holes.
Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was 12-over on Monday, holding a share of 44th. The senior was one-under through the front nine of her day before two more bogeys, birdies and a double-bogey pushed her to two-over in the first round. She tacked on a 10-over outing in the second round, mostly due to nine bogeys on her scorecard in the round.
Both Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) and Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden) landed one shot behind Kinnie by the end of Monday as the only two in a tie for 48th with identical round scores of 77 and 80 to sit them at 13-over.
Watts did not see a birdie until the ninth hole in the opening round, shooting for bogey on four of the eight holes before that. She ended up going five-over through the first round before seven additional bogeys, a double bogey and birdie on the second-to-last hole of the day gave her an eight-over afternoon.
As for Frövenholt, her first round came with seven bogeys and two birdies to sit at five-over. She carded three birdies in the afternoon but seven birdies, almost exclusively on par-4s, along with a pair of double bogeys pushed her to eight-over.
Individual Olivia Williams (Cleveland, Tenn.) was able to move up one spot from the first round to the second, sitting in a tie for 58th heading into Tuesday at 17-over. She opened the day with a nine-over showing through the first round where a pair of birdies were overshadowed by four bogeys, two double bogeys and a triple-bogey on the par-4 16th for an 81. She shaved one stroke off of her score in the second round with an eight-over 80.
No. 13 Saint Leo leads the field heading into the final round at five-over. No. 9 Findlay and No. 4 UINDY follow behind at second and third, respectively.
On the player side, Lynn's Helen Kreuzer leads the way at six-under. Findlay's Meredith Wipper and Saint Leo's Synne Lauritzen are tied for second at three-under.
The event wraps up on Tuesday with one final round of play. Live scoring will once again be provided through Golfstat with a full recap of the precedings following on cneagles.com.