Ito Slips Down Leaderboard at Regional

Lubbock, Texas - Nebraska women's golfer Merynn Ito struggled in the second round of the NCAA Central Regional Championships on The Rawls Course on Friday afternoon, finishing with an 82 to slip into a tie for 49th at 155 through two days of competition.

Ito, a senior from Aiea, Hawaii, entered the second round in a tie for 17th place after opening the three-day, 54-hole tournament with a strong round of 73.

Ito will be hoping for a strong final 18 holes on Saturday to continue her college career at the NCAA Championships in Sunriver, Ore., May 17-20.  The top eight teams in the 24-team field, and the top two individual players who are not on the eight qualifying teams will earn a trip to the tournament.

Heading into the final day of competition, Ito is five strokes out of a top-15 individual finish.  Overall, scores were higher on Friday compared with Thursday's opening round.  Only one golfer, Michigan State's Heather Rose, managed to make par on the day.  Rose closed with an even par 72. 

Thirty-six of the 107 golfers in the field settled for rounds that were 10-over par or higher, as scoring conditions were less than ideal on the 6,328-yard layout on the par-72 course in Lubbock, Texas.

Auburn's Diana Ramage led the field with a four-under par 68 on Thursday, but finished with a five-over par 77 to sit two strokes behind tournament leader Lisa Ferrero from Texas who enters the final round at 143.  Ferrero finished with a 73 on Friday after opening the tournament with a two-under par 70 on Thursday.

In a heated team competition, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri and Auburn sit in a four-way tie for first with two-round totals of 603 heading into the final round.  Purdue is just one shot back at 604 in fifth place, while four other teams are within five strokes of the lead, including Arizona State, Michigan State, Texas and Tulsa.