AMARILLO, Texas – Alex Darwin shot a nine-over 81 to lead the University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's golf team after the opening round of the West Texas A&M Invitational on the La Paloma Course at the Tascosa Country Club. The Mountain Lions are No. 10 with a team score of 44-over par among the 18 teams.

Darwin shot a 4-over in the opening nine holes and was on pace to finish at 3-over on the back nine holes before a double bogey on hole 18. She is tied for No. 20 and is in position for her second top-20 performance in the third tournament of the season. Darwin is three strokes away from her first top-10 finish of the year and first since last season's RMAC Championship.

Raquell Castillo and Megan Vernon both finished with an 11-over 83 as the second and third team scores for the Mountain Lions. The pair are tied for No. 34 and both used a birdie on the back nine at the end of the round. Timbrelee McNair was tied for the second-best score for the Mountain Lions at the turn but finished with a 13-over 85 to close out the UCCS team score.

The Mountain Lions are in the middle of a pack of seven teams all within 12 strokes of each other in the team standings. UCCS is two strokes behind Texas A&M-Commerce, five behind MSU Denver and six behind seventh-place Wayland Baptist. The Mountain Lions are two strokes ahead of Lubbock Christian, three ahead of Rogers State and four ahead of Colorado State-Pueblo.

UCCS will be paired with Lubbock Christian and Rogers State for the second and final round at 7:30 a.m., MDT. The three teams will start from holes nine through 11.