GREENSBORO, N.C. – Mount St. Mary's played its first round in program history at NCAA Championships in the NCAA East Regional on Thursday. The Mount ended the first round in 13th place.
Ryan Triller (Pylesville, Md./North Harford) paced the Mount with a 39th-place standing in the first round with a score of 76 while Devin O'Grady (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) (51st place, 77), Tonny Aizpun (Barcelona, Spain/ Lycee Francais De Barcelone) (51st place, 77), Danny Michalek (Mount Airy, Md./Mount St. Joseph) (70th place, 81) and Kevin Ellison (75th place, 90) rounded out the Mountaineers' five competitors.
Triller, who sits nine strokes behind the current leader, opened the day with bogey on the first, third and fifth holes before registering birdies on the sixth and eighth hole to post a one over through eight holes. The freshman then bogeyed nine to make the turn at two over. Triller started the final nine holes with pars on 10, 11 and 13 along with a birdie on 12 to sit at one over with five to play. The freshman then bogeyed three of the final holes to finish the day with a four-over 76.
O'Grady was the most consistent Mount player on the first nine holes at the NCAA Championships. After bogeying the first hole, the sophomore came back to birdie the second for the squad's first birdie in NCAA Championship history. O'Grady then pared the third and bogeyed the fourth before finishing the final five holes on par to make the turn at one over. He went four over the rest of the way after bogeying 10, 12, 13 and 17 to end the round with a five-over 77.
Aizpun had a rough start to the NCAA East Regional after notching bogeys on the first three holes. After pars on four and five, the sophomore birdied six before bogeying seven. He pared the final two holes on the front nine to make the turn at three over. Aizpun bogeyed 11, 13, 15 and 16 to sit at seven over through 16 holes before finishing the afternoon with birdies on 17 and 18 for a five-over 77.
Michalek was the only Mountaineer not to record a bogey on the first hole after starting the championships with a par. The senior recorded bogeys on the second, fourth and sixth holes with pars on three and five. Michalek birdied seven and pared eight and then bogeyed nine to make the turn at three over. He recorded a six over on the final nine holes after bogeys on 10, 12, 13, and 18 along with a double bogey on 17 to card a nine-over 81 in the first round.
Ellison, who was the Mount's top golfer at the Northeast Conference Championships, recorded a birdie on the second and 14th holes while paring nine, 10, 13 and 18.
Liberty leads the three-day event with a score of 283, five strokes ahead of SMU (288) while Tulsa (293), UNLV (293), Texas Tech (294), Louisana-Lafayette (295), Lamar (295), Auburn (296), Indiana (298), Florida (299), Duke (301), Charlotte (303), Mount St. Mary's (311) and George Washington (312) round out the 14-team regional.
Seeded 14th going into the tournament, at one point during the afternoon was tied with No. 5 Auburn and held the advantage against No. 20 Duke, No. 28 Indiana, Charlotte and George Washington.
Mount St. Mary's will tee off on the 10th tee in the second round of the NCAA East Regional on Friday. Ellison will be the first to tee off at 9:40 a.m. and will be followed by Michalek (9:50 a.m.), Aizpun (10 a.m.), O'Grady (10:10 a.m.) and Triller (10:20 a.m.).
