May 26, 2010

Rapid City, S.D. - Freshman Greta Lange shot a five-over 77 to sit in a tie for 18th overall and help the Shorter College Lady Hawks to 18th-place after the first round of the 2010 NAIA Women's Golf National Championship held at the Meadowbrook Municipal Golf Course in Rapid City, S.D.

Shorter turned in an opening round of 333 (+45) on the par-72, 6,000-yard course and stands 11 strokes out of the top 10 in the 25-team field.

Catalina Olarte posted an opening round of 80 and currently resides in a tie for 42nd-place.

The Lady Hawks are attempting to challenge for the best finish in program history - a seventh-place team finish by the 2004 squad that was led by current women's basketball coach, Vic Mitchell.

Shorter earned an automatic berth in the 2010 Championships by winning one of the NAIA's Unaffiliated Grouping Playoffs several weeks ago.

The Lady Hawks, who were paired in Tuesday's opening round with the nation's top-ranked team in Embry-Riddle, also got an opening round 86 from Petra Muller and a 90 from Ahmereen Humayun. Muller and Humayun stand in 78th and 104th after one day out of 128 participants.

British Columbia holds the lead after 18 holes after firing a 301 (+13) on Tuesday. British Columbia leads by seven strokes over Oklahoma City University (308) and by nine over third-place Embry Riddle (310).

Shorter will tee off in second round action at 1:50 p.m. MDT off the back nine alongside Embry-Riddle and Southern Nazarene.