Western Carolina 18th at UCF Challenge

ORLANDO, Fla. – Junior Kim Mitchell fired an even-par second-round 72 on Monday to pace Western Carolina at the UCF Challenge, hosted at the par-72, 6,349-yard Eagle Creek Golf Club. As a team, the Catamounts remained in 18th overall, trimming 13 strokes off its opening-round mark for a two-day score of 605.

Opening on the back nine, Mitchell charted a pair of bogeys on the par-4 14th and the par-5 15th to make the turn at 2-over-par. However, the Woodbridge, Va., native responded with birdies on the par-4 second and par-3 fifth to finish the day even. All told, she tallied 14 pars on the second 18 holes and stands tied with two of her teammates for 84th with a two-day total of 153.

WCU is being paced by junior Mariah Hopkins and sophomore Ashley Thompson as the duo has carded matching rounds of 77 and 75 over the opening two days of the spring semester to stand tied for 76th (152). Hopkins made the turn from the back nine at 3-over-par despite a pair of birdies, shooting double-bogey on the par-5 18th. The Greensboro, N.C., product then shined on the front nine with nine consecutive pars to finish at 3-over 75.

Thompson was 4-over at the turn to the front with two bogeys and one double-bogey. Then, she was poised to carry a 2-under score through the front nine with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 third and par-5 fourth but suffered a bogey on the final hole of her second round to finish 3-over for the day, 75.

Rounding out the Catamount scoring five are sophomores Olivia Landino, who knocked five strokes off her opening round with a 2-over-par 74, and WCU’s opening-round leader, Bethany Galloway, who shot 5-over-par 77. The two match Mitchell in the individual standings in a tie for 84th with two-round scores of 153.

Landino was 2-under-par after the back nine but dropped to even-par with a double-bogey on hole No. 1 after the turn. She finished 4-over on the back, charting two bogeys against six pars among her final eight holes. Galloway had two birdies – one on each side – but finished with seven bogeys and nine pars on the day to finish 5-over.

With three individuals shooting in the 60s on Monday, Virginia raced to the top of both the individual and team leaderboard. Lauren Coughlin fired a second-round 65 to move into a three-way tie for the top spot with a two-round total of 136, matching Iowa State’s Chonlada Chayanun and Silvia Garces from Tulane.

Again paired with golfers from South Florida and Rollins College, WCU’s scoring five will tee off between the 15th and 17th holes on Tuesday with the final round getting underway with a 9:15 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring of the 2015 UCF Challenge is available online through BirdieFire.com.