PAYSON, Arizona – The quest for a WAC championship title is underway at the Rim Golf Club, located northeast of GCU's campus in Tonto National Forest of Payson, Arizona.
Enduring the steep slopes and nearly 4,000-foot elevation change, Grand Canyon sits near the top of the leaderboard in fourth place at 18-over par. The Lopes trail first-place Abilene Christian by four strokes (14-over), who teed off and partnered with the Lopes to begin the tournament.
GCU registered nine birdies, five of which were scored on the front nine. Two Lopes are tied for 11th at 4-over par in junior
Leighton Shosted and sophomore
Ryan Flynn. The duo combined for six of the team's nine birdies, each tallying three for a 75 first round score.
One stroke behind Shosted and Flynn and in a tie for 17th are senior duo
Constanza Guerrero and
Becca Tschetter, both of whom shot 5-over. Guerrero had two birdies in total, with a birdie and five pars on the back nine while Tschetter finished strong with a 1-over back nine that included four straight pars to end the day. Senior
Carly Strole played in pairing number three and is tied for 37th at 9-over.
GCU will tee off with groups five (UT Arlington) and six (Seattle U) tomorrow morning beginning at 10:40 a.m. The final pairing of the group is scheduled to tee off at 11:20 a.m.