CORPUS CHRISTI — Sophomore Paola Valerio shot a 146 (73-73) on Monday to tie for the individual lead and the UTSA women’s golf team finished with a 597 (299-298), which is good for an eight-stroke advantage after the first two rounds of the Islanders Classic.
Valerio is tied with Central Arkansas' Julia Roth, who carded rounds of 76 and 70 on the day. The Mexico City native is looking for the second individual title of her career after earning medalist honors at the 2010Husky Invitational.
Freshman Taylor Newlin and junior Summer Batiste also sit in the top 10 after 36 holes.
Newlin fired rounds of 74 and 75 for a first-day 149 to tie for fifth, while Batiste turned in scores of 73 and 77 (150), which was good for eighth.
Frosh Fabiola Arriaga's 153 (79-74) has her tied for 16th and junior Shannon Jungman’s 155 (79-76) put her in a tie for 26th to round out the Roadrunners' scoring.
In a field that features a total of seven Southland Conference squads, UTSA is ahead of Lamar and host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who are tied for second with a 605. Other conference teams include Sam Houston State (sixth/611), Central Arkansas (eighth/629), McNeese State (ninth/632) and Stephen F. Austin (10th/634).
UTSA has experienced success in Corpus Christi before, winning the 2009 Stripes Islanders Classic behind a strong outing by Shelly Martinez, who took home medalist honors. Jungman finished 14th at that tournament to aid in the program’s first team victory.
The final will tee off on Tuesday.
