BOULDER CITY, Nev. – Freshman Macy Kleve shot 2-under on the back nine and 1-over 73 in her first round of the RMAC Women's Golf Championships and sits inside the top 10 while the Eagles are tied for sixth as a team after 18 holes at the Boulder Creek Golf Course.

The Eagles shot 17-over 305 as a team, which is calculated by adding together the top four daily scores from CSC's six competing golfers. That matches Fort Lewis for sixth and is six strokes behind fifth-place MSU Denver and seven strokes back of fourth-place Westminster. 

CSU Pueblo, the top-ranked team coming into the tournament, shot 1-under par as a team on the day and lead by five strokes over Colorado Mesa and by six over Colorado Christian. 

Behind the Eagles, the duo of CSC and Fort Lewis have an 11-stroke cushion on eighth-place South Dakota Mines at 28-over 316, with Black Hills State another 14 strokes behind.

Kleve, a Windsor, Colorado native who won individual medalist honors at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational in October and placed sixth at her most recent tournament in Grand Junction, has established herself as CSC's top contender and unafraid of playing in her first college postseason golf tournament. 

The freshman sits in a four-way tie for eighth place among the 58-golfer starting field with an 18-hole score of 1-over 73. After carding a 39 on the front nine, Kleve tallied three birdies against one bogey on holes 10-18 to shoot 2-under 34 on the second nine. 

Kleve excelled on the course's par 4s, shooting 1-under overall across the course's 10 par-4 holes, tied for the third-lowest score in the field. After birdieing the par-4 No. 5, par-4 No. 11, par-5 No. 13 and par-5 No. 16, Kleve's four birdies are tied for the fourth-most in the field. 

Two Eagle golfers – senior Payton Wise and sophomore Allison Sanger – each shot a round one 5-over 77 and are tied for 21^st place. Wise's best stretch came on the front nine, when after a double-bogey on one, she made five consecutive pars and back-to-back birdies on No. 7 and No. 8. 

Sanger closed her round strongly, shooting 1-under from holes 12-18, with six pars split into halves by a birdie on No. 15. Sanger had three birdies in her round, the second-most among Chadron State golfers behind Kleve. 

Klara Kleinig is a stroke behind, tied for 28^th at 6-over 78. Aubree Heinsma, who earned a plaque last night as the league's Summit Award winner (highest GPA among conference tournament qualifiers) for the second consecutive year, is tied for 39^th at 8-over 80. 

While Kleve excelled in her first taste of the Boulder Creek Golf Course and RMAC tournament play, CSC's other freshman, Rapid City's Lauren Knapp, needed to adjust. Knapp sits 48^th after carding a 12-over 84.

Round two has been moved to a shotgun start to avoid high winds. All golfers will tee off at 9 a.m. from varying holes. CSC's six golfers will begin on holes 15-18.