First Round Results

ST. GEORGE, UTAH - One round of the NCAA St. George Regional is in the books and the University of Denver is tied with San Diego State for 12th place at 31-over par on the challenging Entrada at Snow Canyon course. Southern California, the number one team in the country, holds the lead at 9-over par with California four shots off the pace.

The Pioneers were paced by Isabel Southard (Sharon, Mass.) who is tied for 11th place after a 3-over par day. Southard had an eagle on the par 4, 383-yard, 6th hole to highlight her round.

Pauline Loulier from Cal shot an impressive 3-under par and is the leader after one round, just ahead of Alivia Brown of Washington State and Karen Chung of Southern Cal who both shot Even par on the day.

Summit League Champion Elyse Smidinger (Crofton, Md.) completed the afternoon at 12-over par for Denver.

"Really proud of the fight in our players today after getting off to a poor start," said Denver head coach Lindsay Kuhle. "This is what Pioneer golf is all about; resiliency and fighting until the very end. This was apparent with Izzy being minus five her last four holes and Elyse fighting and being plus one her last five holes after a tough start."

Jessica Carty (Holywood, Northern Ireland) and Mariell Bruun (Larvik, Norway) are tied for 48th place for DU after shooting 8-over par.

It was a difficult first round for Aleana Groenhout (Kirkland, Wash.) who posted a 23-over par result.

"The next two days is all about playing aggressively and with confidence and coming out ready to go with positive energy and excitement to play ever hole until the very end," Kuhle stated. "I am confident in all my players and know they have the ability to play their best this time of year."

Friday could really be a stiff challenge due to the weather. There is a 60-percent chance of morning thundershowers before clearing. The high temperature is expected to climb into the low 60's.