Led by sophomore Abbey Kurmel's opening round 76, the Wayne State College women's golf team sits in third place after the first round of the 2022 Northern Sun Conference Championships played at Paradise Point in Smithville, Missouri.  The Wildcats shot an opening day team score of 333 to open the three-day, 54-hole event.
            Augustana has a sizeable team lead after the opening day with a 306, 25 shots ahead of second place Minnesota State at 331.  Wayne State sits third at 333 followed by Upper Iowa four shots back at 337 and Concordia-St. Paul fifth with 342.
            Southwest Minnesota State is sixth at 343, Winona State and Sioux Falls tied for seventh at 346, Minot State ninth at 351 and University of Mary 10th (366).  Closing out the team scoring are MSU Moorhead (368), Minnesota Crookston (372) and Bemidji State (373).
            Kurmel, a sophomore from Okemos, Michigan, shot a 41 on the front nine followed by a one-under-par 35 on the back for her opening round 76, which is second place overall out of a field of 65 players. 
            Sophomores Jazmine Taylor and Mekky Winyarat were next for the Wildcats as each player posted scores of 83, tied for 16th overall.  Junior Paige Peters came in with a 91 while freshman Abbigail Brodersen carded a 93.
            The second round of the 2022 NSIC Women's Golf Championships will be played Saturday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.