HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The University of Redlands Women's Golf team finished the second round at the NCAA Division III National Championships in a tie for eighth place. The Bulldogs trail the new leaders No. 4 George Fox University (GFU) by 18 strokes after 36 holes. After shooting a 320 yesterday, UR shot a 327, combine that will generally better scores from everyone except two teams (both only one stroke worse) ahead of them, and they slid more than a seven-stroke drop off would normally cause.

The second round got off to a great start for Redlands as they were in a tie for second place after the front nine and all five golfers had improved their positions significantly, but then there was a two-hour lightning delay, and upon returning to competition the Bulldogs would go from being within a few strokes of first place to a big mountain to climb.

Despite the big deficit to make up to compete for the national championship, they still have two rounds to do so. There was a lot of movement inside the Top-10 as only two of the 11 teams in the Top-10 stayed put.

Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) rivals No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) currently sits in second and No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) in third. The Athenas and Sagehens are 13 and nine strokes ahead of the Bulldogs. Former leader No. 2 Emory University is tied for fourth with No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and No. 5 Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) who are eight strokes better than the Bulldogs, and in seventh, and four strokes ahead, is No. 10 Methodist University.

Like the rest of her teammates, Hannah Jugar (Chula Vista, CA) was off to a great start before the weather delay as she ends round two in a tie for eighth at nine over par 155 (75-80). She was seven over in round two after being under par on the front nine prior to the delay. Despite the struggles, she is still only five strokes out of first place.

Iris Liu (Diamond Bar, CA) and Andrea York (Oakdale, CA) stayed deadlocked with each other as they now sit in 50^th after they each shot an 83, bringing their two-round total to 164. A 10-stroke improvement at this point would get these two into a tie for fifth, so there is still time to make their move.

Kendall Nicholson (Bellevue, WA) has carried the team at some big tournaments this season. She shot a second round 84 after an 83 yesterday as she is tied for 67^th with a 167. Similarly, to Liu and York, she is still in the thick of things if she is able to make some slight improvements Thursday and Friday as she sits only five strokes out of a tie for 35^th, an important move that would greatly help the team's standing.

The last Bulldog, and the lone golfer to move up on the day, was Jizelle Robledo (La Habra, CA) who now sits in a tie for 73^rd after being 85^th yesterday. She sits 22 strokes over par at 168 (87-81), four strokes away from 42^nd.

If each golfer makes incremental improvements similar to Robledo the rest of the way, then the Bulldogs will stay alive in the championship hunt. Due to the weather delay not all the teams completed their round so after they do so in the morning, round three will get underway as scheduled. Tee times will be on the website schedule once they are announced which probably will not be until the morning.