Junior Ashley Tait carded a three-under-par 69 to lead UNC Wilmington in the opening round of the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate Monday at the Highlands Ranch Golf Club.

Tait’s opening-round 69 put the Littleton, Colo., native in a tie for fourth with UC Irvine’s Jane Chin. Denver’s Stephanie Sherlock leads the field with a five-under-par 67 and Erica Moston of San Jose State sits one stroke behind Sherlock in second at four-under. Senior Christie Appleton posted an opening-round 80 to sit in a tie for 40th, junior Carmen Perez-Narbon carded an 82 to sit in a tie for 57th. Sophomore Cristina Manrique (83/T-60) and freshman Sofia Hagsund (85/T-67) round out the Seahawks entry.  

The Seahawks combined for a first-day total 314 to sit in a tie for 10th place with Arkansas-Little Rock. The host Pioneers lead the field, posting the only sub-par team total in the opening round with a one-under result of 287. San Jose State (293) sits six strokes behind Denver in second while Kentucky (302) is in third.    

Second round action at the Ron Moore gets underway Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. MST.     

UNCW Results: T-4 Ashley Tait (69); T-40 Christie Appleton (80); T-57 Carmen Perez-Narbon (82); T-60 Cristina Manrique (83); T-67 Sofia Hagsund (85); 71 Alei Mitchell (92).

Team Results: 1 Denver (287); 2 San Jose State (293); T-3 Kentucky (302); T-3 Wyoming (302); 5 UC Irvine (304); 6 TCU (305); 7 Oklahoma (306); 8 UC Davis (310); 9 Baylor (311); T-10 Arkansas-Little Rock (314) T-10 UNC Wilmington (314); 12 Iowa State (317): 13 Northern Colorado (322)  -Courtesy UNCW