NIACC's Lunning tied for 9th after 1st day at regionals
ANKENY - NIACC sophomore Thea Lunning is tied for ninth place with a 87 after the first day of the NJCAA Region XI tournament Saturday at the Otter Creek Golf Course.
Iowa Western's Luisa Gibson leads the field with a 73 and the Reivers' Seira Kubo is in second with an 82.
Iowa Western is the team leader with a 324. DMACC is in second with a 342. Iowa Lakes is in third with a 349 and NIACC is in fourth with a 392..
"This is not the day we were hoping for (Saturday) as a team," NIACC coach Chris Frenz said. "They're pretty disappointed, but we still have a chance to get a couple through to the national tournament and with a great effort, maybe a third."
Lunning shot nines of 43 and 44 for her total of 87.
"Thea was pretty solid (Saturday)," Frenz said, "but just couldn't get things jump started to get on a roll, but she really fought hard to put herself in good position to make it with a solid day (Sunday)."
The top five golfers on the winning team plus the top 10 golfers not on the winning team qualify for the NJCAA Division I national tournament. The national tournament is set for May 10-13 in Ormond Beach, Fla. at the Plantation Bay Golf Course.
The second day of the 36-hole regional tournament is set for Sunday starting at 10 a.m.
Also for NIACC, Hailey Panos shot a 93, Ashley Voves shot a 103, Abby Murray shot a 109 and Jenna Paulus shot a 117.
"Hailey had been struggling last week," Frenz said, "but I really like how she hung in there (Saturday) and now she needs to get out and hunt people down in front of her, which she's capable of."
Voves, who was the ICCAC women's golfer of the week last week shot nines of 58 and 45 for her round of 103.
"Ashley has been playing so well coming into (Saturday) that it was tough on her to not get things going (Saturday).
"Abby and Jenna will go out (Sunday) and enjoy the day and give me all they got. This is just a great team to be around and we won't quit. Hopefully by the end of the day Sunday, we'll be making some plans to go to Florida."
Team standings - Iowa Western 324, DMACC 342, Iowa Lakes 349, NIACC 392.
Individual leaderboard - Luisa Gibson (Iowa Western) 73, Seira Kubo (Iowa Western) 82, Aubrey Duncan (DMACC) 83, Abby Gaudian (Iowa Lakes) 83, Lydia Steier (DMACC) 84, Katie Schweers (Iowa Western) 84, Maya Northcutt (Iowa Western) 85, Krista Swenson (DMACC) 86, Thea Lunning (NIACC) 87, Holly Elliot (Iowa Western) 87, Isabella Santistevan (Iowa Lakes) 87, Gretchen Hofstad (Iowa Lakes) 88, Kelly Boleyn (Iowa Central) 88, Quinn Eslinger (DMACC) 89, Emily Knoche (DMACC) 89.
