Huskers Lead Chip-N Club

Lincoln - The Nebraska women's golf team overcame cool temperatures and gusty winds to produce a second-round 306 to blow into the lead after the first 36 holes of the Chip-N Club Invitational at Yankee Hill Country Club in Lincoln on Monday. 

The Huskers trailed Kansas State by four strokes after the first 18 holes on Monday morning, after NU posted an opening-round 317. But the Wildcats followed their 313 from the first round with a second-round total of 320, falling 10 strokes behind the Huskers into third place.

The Camels from Campbell University, who qualified for NCAA Regional competition in 2006, galloped up the leaderboard in the second round by posting the day's best round with a 300. The Camels sit seven strokes back of the Huskers with a 630 through the first 36 holes. Nebraska leads the 14-team field at 623 (317-306).

Nebraska senior Chrissie McArdle owns the top spot in the individual standings with rounds of 77 and 75 to finish the first 36 holes at 152. McArdle, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., leads Campbell's Alejandra Shaw and Missouri State's Sally Hinton by three strokes. Shaw fired the day's best round with an even-par 72 on the 6,040-yard layout at Yankee Hill.

Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said McArdle's solid rounds were made even more impressive by the rugged scoring conditions. The day began with temperatures in the low 40s, and northwest winds gusting between 15 and 25 mph throughout the day. In fact, in the first round, the 80 golfers in the tournament managed to produce just seven scores below 80, while 14 players posted rounds of 90 or above in the first round alone.

"You wouldn't normally think that 77 and 75 are going to give you a three-stroke lead in a tournament, but that is exactly what happened today," Krapfl said. "Chrissie is our most experienced golfer and she showed great focus and toughness out there. Anything in the 70s today was a very good score based on the conditions. I'm sure everybody hopes to go for some lower scores tomorrow."

Two other Huskers joined McArdle in the top five heading into Tuesday's final round. Junior Elli Brown produced rounds of 79 and 77 to sit in fourth place at 156, four strokes behind McArdle. Junior Allison Stewart joins Missouri State's Missy Linnens and Meghan Gockel from Kansas in a three-way tie for fifth at 157, after posting rounds of 78 and 79.

True freshman Kate White joined that Husker trio in the top 10 another stroke back at 158, after rebounding from an opening-round 83 to fire a 75 over the second 18. White, a native of Waukegan, Ill., is tied with Kansas State's Michelle Regan, first-round leader Kali Quick from Kansas State and Campbell teammates Maite Ortiz dePinedo and Belen Diaz Cisneros.

"Kate really came through for us in the second round because we needed another solid score to make the move up the leaderboard that we did," Krapfl said. "These tough conditions in the first two tournaments are going to help us down the road this year, especially our young freshmen. They are seeing some real challenges and finding ways to overcome them."

The 54-hole tournament concludes Tuesday with 18 holes beginning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m.