Buffs In 15th At NCAA Regionals

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Junior Alexis Keating anchored the University of Colorado women's golf team here Friday, shooting a 1-over par 72 in the second round as the Buffaloes are in 15th place at the NCAA Regional Championships.

Although the No. 36 Buffs slipped one spot in the standings, they were eight strokes better on day two, posting a 308 or 24-over par team score at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club. CU is 56-over par (316-308—624) heading into the final round on Saturday, 20 strokes out of sixth place, the position the team needs in order to advance to the NCAA Championships.

“It's just not our week,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “We're still not playing as well as we can and I thought if we played our game we had a shot at making it, but we can't quite get things going.”

The conditions were similar to Thursday, another windy day and temperatures also cooled down. Tee-times were delayed 30 minutes after overnight rain left water on the course.

No. 1 Southern California shot 8-over par (293-292—585) and remains in control, leading by 11 strokes over Stanford, who is 28-over par (596) for the tournament and moved from fifth to second on Friday after matching the Trojans' 8-over round. California and Arkansas are six strokes back of second, both tied for third place at 34-over (602) and Virginia is in fifth at 36-over par.

Keating made the biggest move among the individuals on Friday, climbing 40 spots after her 1-over par performance, a nine-stroke improvement from the first round. Teeing-off from No. 10, she had a strong start, recording seven consecutive pars. Keating went to 2-over with a double-bogey on No. 17, but shot 1-under for the remainder of her round. She had a team-leading three birdies and 12 pars on the day. Keating is 11-over par (81-72—153) after the first two rounds and tied for 29th on the leaderboard.

Sophomore Esther Lee, CU's stroke average leader (72.89) turned in a 4-over par (75) scorecard in the second round, one shot better than Thursday. She is 9-over for the meet (76-75—151) and tied for 24th overall. Lee shot 2-over on both sides, a 37 on the front and 38 on the back. She tallied one birdie along with 12 pars, including three straight pars to finish the round.

Freshman Brittany Fan matched her first round score with a 7-over par 78. She shot 1-over through seven holes and then ran into some trouble while closing out the back side. She double-bogeyed No. 17 and had a triple on No. 18, but rebounded once she started the front side at 6-over par. She pared four straight, followed by back-to-back bogeys and finished par-par-birdie. Fan is tied for 52nd place heading into the final round at 14-over par (78-78—156).

Junior Jamie Oleksiew improved her second round score by three strokes on her way to finishing the day with an 83 or 12-over par. She is tied for 91st overall at plus-27 (86-83—169) through 36 holes. Oleksiew started out going 10-over through her first nine holes, but settled down the rest of the way, shooting 2-over par where she had two birdies, her firsts of the tournament and three pars.

Sophomore Natalie Vivaldi, who is battling severe back pain, struggled in the second round. She shot 18-over par (89) on Friday and is 28-over par (81-89—170) for the tournament. The Oceanside, Calif. native posted a 10-over (45) on the front nine and 8-over (44) on the back side. Although it was a tough day for Vivaldi, she finished strong, paring three of her final four holes.

Annie Park from Southern California took the lead, shooting even-par 71 on the second day and is 1-over through 36-holes. She is one stroke ahead of Shannon Aubert of Stanford and UNLV's Dana Finkelstein, each at 2-over par (144). Gaby Lopez from Arkansas and Pauline Loulier (the first round leader) from Cal are one stroke back of second and just two shots out of first, both in at 3-over par 145.

“It's a good learning experience no matter what,” Kelly said. “We're going to work hard to at least finish strong tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe we can squeak Esther or Alexis in there (to advance to the Championship rounds), which would be nice.”

The NCAA Regionals conclude here Saturday with the top six teams and three individuals (not on those teams) continuing onto the NCAA Championships in Bradenton, Fla. Play gets underway at 8 a.m. MDT and CU starts at 8:54 a.m. MDT on the 10th hole.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T24.	Esther Lee	73-78—151
T29.	Alexis Keating	81-72—153
T52.	Brittany Fan	78-78—156
T91.	Jamie Oleksiew	86-83—169
T94.	Natalie Vivaldi	81-89—170
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1.	Annie Park, Southern California	72-71—143
T2.	Shannon Aubert, Stanford	75-69—144
T2.	Dana Finkelstein, UNLV	72-72—144
T4.	Gaby Lopez, Arkansas	73-72—145
T4.	Pauline Loulier, California	68-77—145
TEAM SCORES
1.	Southern California	293-292—585
2.	Stanford	304-292—596
T3.	California	297-305—602
T3.	Arkansas	306-296—602
5.	Virginia	308-296—604
6.	UNLV	301-304—605
T7.	Southern Methodist	308-303—611
T7.	Wisconsin	303-308—611
T7.	New Mexico State	305-306—611
10.	Texas Christian	313-302—615
T11.	Vanderbilt	319-297—616
T11.	Middle Tennessee	313-303—616
13.	Miami	316-306—622
14.	Denver	315-308—623
15.	COLORADO	316-308—624
16.	San Diego State	315-310—625
17.	Northern Arizona	317-323—640
18.	Albany	331-322—653

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Players Mentioned

Brittany Fan

Alexis Keating

Esther Lee

Jamie Oleksiew

Natalie Vivaldi