SAN ANTONIO — UTSA senior Camryn Carreon has climbed to the top of the individual leaderboard after the second round of the NCAA San Antonio Regional, which continued on a rainy Tuesday at TPC San Antonio's Oaks Course (par 72/6,342 yards).
Entering the day with a share of third place at 1-under par, Carreon fired a 5-under 67 to push her total to 6-under 138 through two rounds and build a four-shot lead on the field with 18 holes left to play on Wednesday.
The San Antonio native has her sights set on a second straight trip to the NCAA Championships after qualifying last year out of the Franklin (Tenn.) Regional. The top-placing individual not on one of the five advancing teams will earn a spot in the national championships on May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
After carding a 71 on Monday, Carreon opened the second day with her first of five birdies, as she sank a putt on the 375-yard, par-4 10th hole to move to 2-under.
Following a bogey on the 545-yard, par-5 second and a par on the 128-yard, par-3 third, Carreon recorded back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4-5 to get to 3-under for the week. The first-team All-Conference USA performer then closed with three pars combined with a bogey on the front nine's other par 5, the 549-yard eighth.
Carreon began the back nine with a par, followed by a birdie on the 370-yard, par-4 11th and two more pars before registering an eagle on the 471-yard, par-5 14th when she drained a 25-foot putt for a three.
The Incarnate Word High School graduate closed the round — which included a 53-minute weather delay — with two pars, a birdie on the 17th that pushed her to 5-under for the day and then a par on No. 18.
Carreon is four strokes ahead of a three-way tie for second place between Zoe Campos of UCLA, Mackenzie Lee of SMU and Clemence Martin of Oklahoma State. Campos, the ninth-ranked player in the nation, fell from first place after posting an even-par 72 on Tuesday, while Lee — ranked 44th nationally — and Martin both carded a 70 to jump four places in the standings.
No. 52 Hailee Cooper of Texas A&M and Jennifer Herbst of Sam Houston are deadlocked in fifth place at even-par, six shots off Carreon's pace.
In the team standings, top seed and No. 6-ranked Texas A&M has the lead at 5-over par, followed by No. 27 SMU (+9), No. 22 Oklahoma State (+12), 18th-ranked Pepperdine (+15) and No. 7 Auburn (+18) in the top five. No. 43 Denver is sixth at 23-over, with No, 42 New Mexico (+24), 31st-ranked UCLA (+27), Sam Houston (+31), ULM (+39), Illinois (+44) and Missouri State (+65) rounding out the 12-team field.
The final round is set for Wednesday and Carreon will tee off from No. 1 at 8:55 a.m.
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