BOULDER CITY, Nevada -- The goal for stroke play during the NCAA Division II Championships is simple. Finish in the top eight and advance to medal match play.

It's only there where nation titles are won.

And, behind the play of senior Brecklyn Flanagan and freshman Mary Kerr, the Mustangs are right in the mix following Tuesday's opening round at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.

The duo carded a pair of 2-under 70s to lead MSU to a 2-over, team total of 290. That performance has the Mustangs tied for ninth with rival West Texas A&M and just stroke behind Central Missouri.

"We played the first four holes in the worst wind of the day," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "The greens are reasonable fast, but for the most part, we were getting the ball to the right spots. We need to follow it up with another great round."

The NCAA Division II Championships feature three rounds of stroke play with the top eight teams advancing to three rounds of medal match play. The medal match quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Friday, while the championship watch is Saturday.

Flanagan continued her strong run by posting seven birdies in the opening round on her way to her sixth par-or-better of the season. The Murphy, Texas, native forced a tiebreaker for individual medalist honors last week at the NCAA Division II West Region Championships.

Kerr notched her fifth par-or-better score of the campaign, and three of those have come on the course at the Boulder Creek. The Friendswood, Texas, native carded scores of 69, 74, and 67 to tie for 11th at the D2 National Preview last fall.

Kerr and Flanagan tied for 11th on the individual leader board through the opening round of play.

Senior Makenna Henry logged a 2-over 74 to tie for 48th, while junior Alli Reily delivered the fourth team countable score with a 4-over 76 to tie for 69th.

"I was really proud of the girls," Ray said. "They are playing well and having fun. They have really worked hard to get here. We will be close enough for it to matter the next couple of days. And, we can play some holes a little bit better than we did today."

The trio of Reily (77 birdies), Flanagan (75), and Henry (74) have produced three highest birdie totals in a season for the Mustangs. With her next birdie, Flanagan is set to join Juanita Gomez (214 birdies from 2018-22) as the second women's golfer in program history to reach 200.

Reily came into the week with the lowest season stroke average in program history at 74.57.

Anderson (S.C.) and California State-San Marcos are tied atop the team leader board through 18 holes with matching, 8-under 280s with a one-stroke advantage over Flagler (Fla.).

Anderson senior Zoey Iglesias and California State-East Bay freshman Torrie Bowman are tournament co-leaders after carding 5-under 67s. They have a one-stroke lead over Grand Valley State's Olivia Stoll, Dallas Baptist's Ella Cheek, West Texas A&M's Anna Nomrowski, and California State-San Marcos' Regan Barton.

Midwestern State begins the second round of the NCAA Division II Championships with noon (Central) tee times.
 

NCAA Division II Championship

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Anderson (S.C.)	-8	280	---	---	280
	California State, San Marcos	-8	280	---	---	280
3	Flagler (Fla.)	-7	281	---	---	281
4	Dallas Baptist (Texas)	-3	285	---	---	285
	California State, East Bay	-3	285	---	---	285
6	Findlay (Ohio)	E	288	---	---	288
	Wingate (N.C.)	E	288	---	---	288
8	Central Missouri	+1	289	---	---	289
9	Midwestern State	+2	290	---	---	290
	West Texas A&M	+2	290	---	---	290
11	Grand Valley State (Mich.)	+3	291	---	---	291
12	Henderson State (Ark.)	+6	294	---	---	294
13	Nova Southeastern (Fla.)	+7	295	---	---	295
	Missouri-St. Louis	+7	295	---	---	295
15	Arkansas-Fort Smith	+14	302	---	---	302
16	Arkansas Tech	+15	303	---	---	303
17	Indianapolis (Ind.)	+17	305	---	---	305
18	Ferris State (Mich.)	+26	314	---	---	314

   

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Zoey Iglesias	Anderson	-5	67	--	--	67
	Torrie Bowman	California State, East Bay	-5	67	--	--	67
3	Olivia Stoll	Grand Valley State	-4	68	--	--	68
	Ella Cheek	Dallas Baptist	-4	68	--	--	68
	Anna Nomrowski	West Texas A&M	-4	68	--	--	68
	Regan Barton	California State, San Marcos	-4	68	--	--	68
7	Henriette Stranda	Flagler	-3	69	--	--	69
	Ashleigh Duflo	Findlay	-3	69	--	--	69
	Aly Francis	Anderson	-3	69	--	--	69
	Madison Murr	California State, San Marcos	-3	69	--	--	69

Midwestern State Scorecards

T8	Midwestern State	+2	290	---	---	290
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T11	Brecklyn Flanagan	-2	70*	--	--	70
T11	Mary Kerr	-2	70*	--	--	70
T48	Makenna Henry	+2	74*	--	--	74
T69	Alli Reily	+4	76*	--	--	76
T90	Madison Wert	+8	80	--	--	80