Wilson Tied For Second Place After First Day Of EKU Colonel Classic

Friday, April 6

Richmond, Ky.

All Day

Bowling Green State University

EKU Lady Colonel Classic

Wilson Tied For Second Place After First Day Of EKU Colonel Classic

April 06, 2012 | Women's Golf

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communications Intern

FIRST DAY RESULTS (.pdf)

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Shelby Wilson completed her best 36 holes as a Falcon on Friday (April 7) at the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Colonel Classic. As a result, she has positioned herself and the Bowling Green State University women's golf team into contention for tournament victories.

After shooting a 79 in the first round, Wilson carded the best round of her freshman campaign over Friday's final 18 holes. She sandwiched a birdie between two streaks of five consecutive pars to start the round. Then, after a stretch of two bogeys in three holes, Wilson dug deep and produced two very clutch birdies to close the round.

She finished with a one-under-par 71 and a 36-hole total of 150. Both are career-bests for Wilson. The individual round of 71 matches the best round by any Falcon this season, and it is both the best round (by three strokes) and the only under-par round of the entire tournament thus far.

Wilson will enter Saturday's final round tied with Tabitha Beard of Austin Peay for second place. The pair trails Jenna Hague of Ball State by two strokes; Hague scored a 148 (74-74) on Friday.

Paula DiFrancesco, who earned the only other round of 71 for BGSU this season, sank two birdies in the second round and ended the day with a total of 155 (79-76). She resides in an eight-way tie for 12th place. However, DiFrancesco is in position to possibly earn her second top-ten of the season, as she is only one stroke behind a group tied for seventh.

Team captain Amy Ruthenberg managed the course well and, like Wilson and DiFrancesco, earned a better score over Friday's final 18 holes. She is now tied for 24th place after rounds of 80 and 77 gave her a total of 157. She is just two strokes behind DiFrancesco.

Bailey Arnold struggled for small stretches throughout Friday's play, but she ended the first round on a very good note, with back-to-back pars followed by back-to-back birdies. Overall, she carded a 163 (83-80) to finish the day tied for 45th place.

Patricia Holt carded an 83 in the second round after her first round result was disqualified. Meanwhile, Kelsey Benson competed as an individual to round out BGSU's effort. Her two-round total of 164 (83-81) earned a tie for 48th place.

As a team, Bowling Green shot a 625 (321-304) on Friday. The Falcons join four other Mid-American Conference schools, which are representing the conference very well this weekend by dominating the tournament. Fellow MAC members Toledo (619) and Ball State (624) are second and fourth, respectively. Akron leads the tournament with a 617.

Ohio University (631) is tied for seventh in the 13-team field.

The tournament's final round begins on Saturday (April 7) at 8:30 a.m. with staggered tee times from holes 1 and 10. BGSU players will begin at the first hole. Wilson will be in the seventh group, and they begin at approximately 9:24.

The tournament is being held at the par-72, 5,809-yard Arlington Golf Course. Live scoring will be available for the final round and can be accessed here.