Kansas swings into first after round one at Kitahara Invitational

Three Jayhawks round out day one in top-20

Freshman Meghna Bal leads the Jayhawks after completing day one at the Kitahara Invitational in second place in Fresno, Calf.

Feb. 25, 2008

FRESNO, Calif - Freshman Meghna Bal fired an opening-round one-under-par 71 to propel the University of Kansas women's golf team into first place after day one at the Kitahara Invitational in Fresno, Calif., on Monday. The New Dehli, India native currently sits in second place, two strokes behind tournament leader Lindsey McAtee of Long Beach State, who carded a 69 at Fresno State's Copper River Country Club.

The Jayhawks will head into Tuesday's final two rounds with a team score of 295, four strokes ahead of runner-up, Tulsa and host, Fresno State, who are tied with composite scores of 299.

Kansas sophomore Emily Powers sits close behind Bal after firing an even-par 72 on the day, good enough to tie for third place. Freshman Grace Thiry also built on her success from last tournament, finishing round one in a tie for 18th place after carding a three-over-par 75.

"I am very proud of our golfers, especially Meghna, Emily and Grace," Kansas head coach Erin O'Neil said. "They turned in some solid rounds today. But we still have some work to do tomorrow."

Kansas sophomore Meghan Gockel is tied for 34th with an opening round 77 (+5), while senior Annie Giangrosso completed the day with a score of 79 to round out the first 18 holes in a tie for 49th place.

Kansas freshman Sydney Wilson, who is competing unattached, also made her first appearance of the spring season with a first-round score of 82, good for a tie in 69th place.

The Jayhawks will look to build on their momentum and maintain their lead while advancing in the individual leaderboard as the tournament wraps up, Tuesday. For complete results at the end of each day, please visit www.kuathletics.com.

KANSAS SCORES 2 Meghna Bal 71 -1 T3 Emily Powers 72 E T18 Grace Thiry 75 +3 T34 Meghan Gockel 77 +5 T49 Annie Giangrosso 79 +7 T69 Sydney Wilson* 82 +10 *denotes individual

TEAM LEADERBOARD 1 Kansas, U. of 295 295 +7 T2 Tulsa 299 299 +11 T2 Fresno State 299 299 +11 T4 UC Davis 301 301 +13 T4 Hawaii, Univ. of 301 301 +13 6 San Francisco, U. of 302 302 +14 T7 Nevada, U. of 304 304 +16 T7 UC Irvine 304 304 +16 T9 Long Beach State 306 306 +18 T9 Boise State Univ. 306 306 +18 11 Santa Clara Univ. 307 307 +19 12 Colorado State Univ. 310 310 +22 13 Sacramento State U. 311 311 +23 14 New Mexico State 316 316 +28 15 Portland State Univ. 319 319 +31 16 San Diego State Univ 320 320 +32