RIO VERDE, Ariz.- The Western Michigan golf team finished round one of the Rio Verde Invitational on Friday, Feb. 24 tied for 15th place and 21 strokes behind the leader, University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC).

"Today was not the start we wanted, but we learned a lot from our round," commented WMU head coach Elise Swartout-Mosher. "There were some good takeaways that we can use moving forward. We have a new round and lots of opportunities tomorrow to improve and we are looking forward to it!"  

As a team, the Broncos posted an overall 316 score after the first 18 holes. Senior Anna Wilcoxson led the Broncos after round one, shooting five-over par for a score of 77. Junior Julia Champion recorded one birdie, finishing with a score of 79 and seven-over par. Jasmine Chee and Kaitlyn Watkins both posted 80 after Friday's shotgun round. 

UMKC recorded the best team score (295) after the first 18 holes. Chandler Gallagher led the Kangaroos with a 3-under score of 69, the score is also on top of the individual leaderboard. Gallaher's score included four birdies during the first round. Northern Arizona's Sofia Anokhina follows closely behind after shooting two-under par with four birdies and one double bogey.

Mid-American Conference foes Northern Illinois (T2), Eastern Michigan (T2), Akron (T4) and Ball State (7) finished in the top-10 on Friday.

The Broncos will look to bounce back tomorrow during the second round. The shotgun begins at 12:00 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Feb. 25.