Tweet #theGAC  ORLANDO, Fla. - After the opening 18 holes of the 2024 Division II National Championships, the No. 11 Henderson State women's golf program sits in a tie for eighth among the 18-team field with a first-round 7-over 295.

The Reddies are tied with No. 7 Indianapolis after day one while the two programs sit three shots back of No. 9 Lynn. No. 1 Dallas Baptist leads the championships at 4-under 284, followed by No. 10 St. Mary's at 3-under 285.

Individually, Lily Nelson paces the red-and-gray with a 2-under 70 as she is currently tied for third while being just one shot back of the leader. The true sophomore kicked off the week with two straight birdies on her first two holes before finishing the front nine even-par.

Nelson played the back-nine 2-under, including a birdie on the Par 5 18th to finish in the tie for third. The Commerce City, Colo. native has played each of her last two competitive rounds a combined 5-under between the final round of the Central Region Championships and Tuesday's first round of the National Championships.

Nelson's team-high five birdies on the day were followed by Daphney Tilton's four birdies as she closed day one with a 1-over 73 for a spot at 27th after posting her second-best round since the first tournament of 2024. Tilton and Nelson were the only two Reddies to birdie their final hole to help HSU finish the day inside the Top-8.

Felisa Sajulga and Jinna Boonbumroongsuk matched each other with a 4-over 76 to bring Henderson's team score to 7-over 295. Sajulga, playing in her first ever Nationals, tallied the most pars on the day for the Reddies with 15.

After sitting 4-over through the first eight holes, the former Lone Star State product played her final 10 holes even-par. Sajulga's 15 pars were tied for the second-most pars of anyone in the 98-player field.

Allie Bianchi rounded out the Reddie five-bag with a 6-over 78 as she is tied for 96th. It was a tale of two nine-hole stints for the 2024 GAC Player of the Year. After playing the front-nine 6-over, Bianchi closed her back-nine even-par thanks to her only birdie of the round on the Par 3 17th.

Southwestern Oklahoma State started slowly as three of the five Lady Bulldogs recorded scores at, or over, 80 in the opening round.

The No. 23-ranked Lady Bulldogs finished the day in 17th place . They'll go again tomorrow morning looking to gain ground on teams ahead of them on the leaderboard in hopes of cracking the top-8 to advance to match play later in the week.

Rebecca Lau was SWOSU's lowest score in round one. She carded a three-over 75 and shot even par on her back nine to finish the day.

Freya Sala had the opposite result from Lau. Sala was even after nine holes before finishing six-over on the back nine.

Ashlyn Acosta and Drew Dodgion both shot an 80. Megan Brown ended with an 83.

Arkansas Tech's had a strong finish of one-under on the back-nine to close at four-over (76).

That strong finish by Spigner was sparked on Hole No. 7 as she carded her first birdie of the round. Prior to that, Spigner was struggling some and was at six-over through six holes. Spigner would make par on the final two holes of the front nine to make the turn at five-over.

On her second hole of the back-nine, Spigner lost a stroke with a bogey on the par-3 No. 11. That would be the only blemish on her final nine holes as she closed with birdies on the par-3 15th as well as on the 18th, a par-5.

With her four-over (76), Spigner is tied for 76th among the 113-golfer field heading into Wednesday's second round. She is currently tied with 12 others at four-over and is two shots back of the top-50.