Hershey, Pa. - IUP leads the PSAC Men's Golf Championship by seven strokes over second-place Clarion after the first round of play on Saturday, while the PSAC Women's Golf Championship had its first round suspended due to darkness with 11 players yet to complete their first round.
On the men's side, the Crimson Hawks shot a one-under par 287 as a team to take the lead. Clarion is in second place with a six-over 294 score. California (Pa.) shot a 314 to take a hold of third place after the first round. Millersville and Gannon are in fourth and fifth place, respectively, while West Chester and Mercyhurst are tied for sixth to round out the field.
IUP shot its way to the lead on the strength of a pair of three-under par 69s shot by Cory Stelick and Leo Acklin, who are tied for the lead. Justin Cameron of Clarion is one shot back of the IUP duo in third place at two-under 70, while IUP's Gavin Smith is in fourth at one-over 73. Clarion's Jared Schmader and Mike DeAngelo are tie for fifth at two-over 74 while Ross Pringle of Clarion and Brad Boyle of IUP are tied for seventh at four-over 76.
Round one of the PSAC Women's Championships was suspended on Saturday with four groups made up of 11 individuals still yet to complete their rounds due to darkness. Three Individuals each from East Stroudsburg, Gannon, Kutztown and two players from Mercyhurst were not able to complete their rounds by the time the sun went down on Saturday. Each groups has between one and three holes remaining in their first round and will complete the round at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Because of the first round being suspended on Saturday, the women's field will now not be paired in new groups according to first round scores on Sunday. Instead, all groups will remain the same as Saturday and will go off the first tee in the same order as Saturday, with the groups still needing to finish their first rounds doing so and then going off hole one in their normal order.
Three teams did have all of their players finish their rounds on Saturday. Of those three, California (Pa.) is currently the clubhouse leader at 304, followed by West Chester at 371 and Clarion at 400. Individually, among those players that finished their rounds, Cal's Simone DeSouza leads the field at three-over 75. She is followed by a three-way tie for second with DeSouza's Cal teammates Jenna Rothermel and Dianne Luke as well as Kutztown's Kelli Pry each at four-over 76.