Aggies Rally Into Second Place At San Jose State

March 8, 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Behind 1-over 73's from freshmen Amy Simanton and Demi Runas - who are each tied for fifth - the 26th-ranked UC Davis women's golf team fired a second-round best 297 on Monday afternoon and are in second place after 36 holes of the Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational.

UC Davis, which was in seventh place after a 16-over 304 in the first round at the 6,223-yard Almaden Golf and Country Club, jumped five spots to trail only host San Jose State which has a six-shot lead over the Aggies. UC Davis leads No. 14 Cal by a shot and is also in front of three other teams ranked in the top 50. Its 297 was the only score below 300 in the second round.

The Aggies, looking for their second straight tournament title and third of the season, were paced by Simanton and Runas on Monday. Each shot identical rounds of 74 and 73 and are tied for fifth at 147, just four shots off the lead held by Cristina Corpus of San Jose State.

Chelsea Stelzmiller, who had back-to-back rounds of 76, is tied for 17th at 152 while Alice Kim and Belen Hernandez are each tied for 38th at 156. Kim shot 75 in the afternoon round while Hernandez had a 76.

Simanton started her round with four bogeys over her first five holes but those were the only ones of her round. She finished the rest of the round with 10 pars and three birdies - including two of her last three holes - to get back to just 1-over.

Runas, conversely, got off to a hot start with a pair of birdies on her first two holes before three bogeys in a four-hole span put her at 1-over. She had 10 straight pars to help her finish with a 73.

Stelzmiller had two pars in her second-round 76 while Kim also had a pair during her round of 75. Hernandez highlighted her 76 in the afternoon with 14 pars.

The final round begins with a shotgun start at 8 a.m.. on Tuesday.

JULI INKSTER SPARTAN INVITATIONAL
San Jose, Calif. (hosted by San Jose State)
Almaden Golf and Country Club
Par 72, 6,223 yards
36 of 54 holes

TEAMS
1. San Jose State, 295-300-595
2. UC DAVIS, 304-297-601
3. Cal, 301-301-602
4. Fresno State, 300-304-604
5. UC Irvine, 299-309-608
6. San Francisco, 309-300-609
T7. Long Beach State, 300-311-611
T7. San Diego State, 305-306-611
T7. Oklahoma State, 299-312-611
10. Colorado, 313-312-625
11. Oklahoma, 309-317-626
12. Santa Clara, 308-322-630
13. Hawaii, 316-315-631
14. Colorado State, 313-320-633
15. Nevada, 317-319-636
16. Gonzaga, 320-323-643