RAPID CITY, S.D.— Five Colorado Mesa University women's golfers are near the top of the leaderboard as the Mavericks opened up an 11-shot advantage in the team standings after the first of two rounds of the Hardrocker Fall Invite on Monday here at the Golf Club at Red Rock.
 
CMU's Hayden Hawley and Libby Bourassa are tied for the individual lead after both posted rounds of 78 (+6), more than ten shots better than the field average of 88.23 in cold conditions that hovered around 50 degrees for much of the day on the 5,945-yard, par-72 course.
 
Meanwhile, Maverick junior McKenzie Dolph and freshman Brooke Brekke, who is playing as an individual, both posted 79's and are tied for third along with Chadron State's Macy Kleve.
 
Allison Sanger is also a part of a 3-way tie for sixth and just two shots off the lead at +8 after posting a round of 80 as part of the Mavs' team score of 315 (+27).
 
The Mavs are 11 shots ahead of Chadron State, which has two players in the top ten of the individual standings in Kleve and Klara Kleinig, who is tied for ninth at +9 (81).  The Eagles posted a team score of 326 (+38).
 
The host South Dakota Mines squad is six shots further back at 332 (+44) and in third place of the 8-team, 49-player tournament.
 
As a team, the Mavericks made a tournament-leading 43 pars and were able to record eight birdies, second only to Chadron State's ten.  They also lead the tournament in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring.
 
Hawley had a steady round and made a tournament-leading 12 pars throughout the day while adding a birdie on the 155-yard, par-3 fifth hole after suffering one of her two double bogeys on the preceding fourth hole.
 
Meanwhile, Bourassa made three birdies, second most in the field.  Dolph also had two- while Sanger, Brekke and Hunter Gledhill, who had a round of 86 (+14) to stand in a tie for 24^th place after 18 holes, made one each.
 
Brekke's round of 79 was the best of her young collegiate career to date.
 
CMU freshman Lilyanna Hathaway was also playing as an individual and is in 43^rd place at 103 (+31).
 
Tuesday's second round will begin with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. as the Mavs will look to close out their first team and individual wins of the fall season.