Monday, September 24, 2007

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Sept. 24, 2007) - Posting a first round score of 1-under par 71, senior Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) helped the ETSU women's golf team to a tie for eighth place on the leaderboard following first round play in the Myrtle Beach Classic Monday at the Grande Dunes Resort Golf Club.

ETSU ended the day at 15-over-par 303, and trail Georgia State by 16 strokes heading into Tuesday's action. The Panthers posted a team score of 1-under 287 and lead second place East Carolina by four strokes. Individually, Giraldo is tied with four others players in second place, while Georgia State's Iliska Verwey posted the day's best round at 3-under 69.

"Natalia really played well and led the way for us," said ETSU head coach Stefanie Reynolds Shelton. "If we can get better play from our other four positions tomorrow we can improve our team standing."

Along with Giraldo, teammates Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) and Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) finished with identical scores of 4-over 76 to end the day tied for 32^nd. Junior Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales) is currently tied for 54^th and senior Maria Ringdahl (Farjestaden, Sweden) is tied for 77nd.