NWC FALL CLASSIC: Bruins Build 36-Stroke Lead in Bid for 4th Straight Fall Classic Crown

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – With four players placing in the top five positions on the individual leader board, the George Fox University Bruins shot a team score of 314 and established an incredible 36-stroke lead after the first round of the Northwest Conference Women’s Golf Fall Classic on a cold, wet Saturday here at the Tri-Mountain Golf Course.

Well behind the Bruins in second place is Whitman College with a 350.  Linfield College and Whitworth University are tied for third, each at 357.  Willamette University is fifth at 365, followed by Pacific Lutheran University at 393, Pacific University at 401, and the University of Puget Sound at 440. Lewis & Clark did not send anyone to the tournament this year.

Bruin All-American Kelsey Morrison, who has won three of the four tournaments she has played this fall, shot a three-over-par 75 on the par-72, 5,957-yard course and has a four-stroke lead over her second-place teammate, Abby Mann, who carded a 79.  There is a three-way tie for third at 80 among Emily Guthrie of Whitworth and the Bruins’ Whitney Jammerman and Kiana  Lumanlan.  The fifth member of the George Fox contingent, Loreece Magsanide, is tied for 10th with Willamette’s Taneesh Kaur Sra, each with 87’s.

George Fox has won three straight Fall Classics and has used that as a springboard to three straight overall conference crowns (sharing titles with Whitworth in 2010 and Whitman in 2012).  The Fall Classic constitutes one quarter of the points total toward the conference championship, as does the NWC Spring Classic, with the NWC Championship Tournament later in the spring counting as the final half.

“Our entire team played solid today in extremely difficult weather conditions - rain and cold - and on an extremely long course,” noted George Fox coach MaryJo McCloskey, whose team is ranked No. 5 in the Golf World / National Golf Coaches Association NCAA Division III national poll.  “Playing tee boxes at 5,960 yards, in these conditions, is comparable to a 6,300-yard layout.  The strength of our team really showed today, which is pretty exciting.  We are looking forward to going out with momentum tomorrow and seeing what we can do.”

The Fall Classic concludes Sunday, with all players going off at 8:30 a.m. in a shotgun start.  The five George Fox players will all start on the first four holes.  The NWC Men’s Golf Fall Classic is going on at the same time on the same course.

Results of the first round of the Fall Classic, courtesy of the Pacific sports information office, are available on the George Fox web site at http://athletics.georgefox.edu/sports/wgolf/2012-13/files/1027.htm.