HOUSTON -- Midwestern State's Emily Brennan got off to a good start in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Championships Wednesday at Bay Oaks Country Club.
 
The Stoke-on-Trent, England native carded a solid 2-over 74 to stand in a tie for 27th place with three rounds to play.
 
"Emily was good, but not as sharp as she can be," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "Like always, she competed like crazy. We worked really hard to make sure she was putting the ball in the right position and she did that."
 
Brennan hit eight of 14 fairways reaching 10 greens in regulation while taking 30 putts.
 
"It was pretty solid to be fair, but could be better," Brennan said. "It's put me in the running and that's what counts."
 
She recorded three birdies with one coming on the par-5, 515-yard Hole No. 5 and the others coming on par-4s over the final four holes including a birdie chip on the final hole of the day -- the 381-yard 18th hole.
 
"She played very well, but didn't putt as well as she normally does," Ray said. "She has the ability to shoot under par here."
 
Brennan, who was even-par on the Back Nine, stands five strokes behind tournament leading Casey Wild of Tarleton State and Tampa's Kiira Riijijarvi. The two individual medalist competitors carded 3-under 69s.
 
Brennan is in position to move toward the top of the leader board with 54 holes to play. She is familiar with the course having carded a pair of 73s to finish fourth in the D2 National Preview last fall.
 
"I just need to play my game," she said. "The greens are quite soft. I just need to attack the pins to have shorter putts and drop a couple."
 
Brennan draws a tee time at 10:25 a.m. Thursday morning going off of the 10th hole.
 

NCAA Division II Championship
Bay Oaks Country Club Houston, Texas Par 72, 6,190 yards
Team Leaderboard
Place	Team	Round Scores	Total	To Par
1	Indianapolis (Ind.)	286	286	-2
2	Dallas Baptist (Texas)	290	290	+2
3	Barry (Fla.)	292	292	+4
4	California Baptist	293	293	+5
5	Nova Southeastern (Fla.)	296	296	+8
6	Missouri-St. Louis	300	300	+12
7	Rollins (Fla.)	302	302	+14
8	West Texas A&M	303	303	+15
9	Arkansas Tech	305	305	+17
	Augustana (S.D.)	305	305	+17
11	Grand Valley State (Mich.)	309	309	+21
12	Lindenwood (Mo.)	324	324	+36
Individual Leaderboard
Place	Player, Team	Round Scores	Total	To Par
1	Kiira Riihijarvi, Tampa***	69	69	-3
	Casey Wild, Tarleton State***	69	69	-3
3	Kylie Raines, Indianapolis	70	70	-2
	Tilda Larsson, Barry	70	70	-2
	Evelyn Arguelles, Dallas Baptist	70	70	-2
6	Paloma Vaccaro, West Florida***	71	71	-1
	Peerada Piddon, Arkansas Tech	71	71	-1
	Katharina Keilich, Indianapolis	71	71	-1
	Emma Thorngren, Mo.-St. Louis	71	71	-1
	Hanna Harrison, Dallas Baptist	71	71	-1
	Josefina Foa Torres, Barry	71	71	-1
Midwestern State Scorecard
	Midwestern State
27t	Emily Brennan	74	74	+2