ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Western Washington University women's golf team is off to another great start during its second spring tournament sitting in 7th place out of 19 teams through the first round of the Pioneer Shootout.

 

The Vikings carded a first round team score of 15-over-par 303 for the second-lowest team score of the season. WWU heads into Tuesday's final round seven strokes back of the top five in the field.

 

"An all-around solid day for the team to open the tournament," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "Once we got comfortable with the fast, sloppy greens the players started to see some putts drop."

 

Western was again led by junior Lauren F. Lee who turned in an even-par round of 72 at the Corica Park South Course, recording three birdies to sit in a tie for 7th place in the 103-player field. Lee tied her season low for a round and will be aiming for her fifth top-10 finish in six tournaments this season.

 

Junior Kasey Maralack tied her career low collegiate round with a 3-over-par 75 to tie for 22nd place.

 

"Lauren and Kasey looked in control and comfortable on the course today," added Bennett. "They'll look to continue their solid play tomorrow."

 

Junior Emma Worgum (+5, 77) and freshman Kenzie Walsh (+7, 79) rounded out the Vikings four counting scorers.

 

Tournament host Cal State East Bay and Biola are tied for the tournament team lead after firing rounds of 3-over-par 291. Cal State LA (+4, 292), Cal State San Marcos (+6, 294) and Simon Fraser (+8, 296) round out the top five in the field. 

 

Carlota Eroles of Cal State East Bay and Madison Murr of Cal State San Marcos are tied for individual medalist honors with matching scores of 4-under-par 68 in the first round.

 

Tuesday's final round begins with a shotgun start at 7:30 am with the Vikings opening on holes 4-5-6-7 on the Corica Park South Course. Fans can follow the live leaderboard via Scoreboard by Clippd online.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Here is a look at WWU's final individual results and the team leaderboard following the first round of the Pioneer Shootout, a 19-team field competing in a 36-hole, two-day competition at Corica Park South Course in Alameda, California:

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2024-25 fall tournament schedule for the WWU Women's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/WGolf.

 

 

The WWU women's golf team enters its 32nd season as an intercollegiate sport in 2024-25. WWU has a rich history on the links, winning the first five GNAC Championships beginning in 2011 and returned to the podium with back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. WWU made its 12th appearance in the NCAA II West Regional Championships in 2022 after earning the GNAC's automatic bid. WWU has also made six trips to the NCAA II National Championships. A Viking has been named the GNAC Player of the Year in nine of the 12 years it has been awarded, including 2021-22 award winner Megan Billeter. WWU has also produced the only two players in GNAC history to earn four First Team All-GNAC awards (Jenn Paul and Kristen Hansen) and has had nine All-Americans.