The Racers’ 307 in round one was good for a spot in third place, 12 shots behind leader Eastern Kentucky (295) and nine shots back of second place Jacksonville State (298).
Howson started her day by making birdie at the first three holes and was 4-under-par when she birdied the sixth hole. She made bogey at the 7th and 8th holes, but still made the turn at 2-under-par 34. She played the back nine even before she had a bogey at the 18th and finished with a 37 on the back nine. Howson will go into Tuesday’s second round with a one-shot lead over a pair of competitors who carded an even-par 72. Anne Kathrin Albrecht of Jacksonville State and Anna Gleixner of Eastern Kentucky.
Sydney Trimble carded a 76 for the Racers and had a spot in 10th place in the field of 50 players. MSU’s Sophie Hillier and Abbi Stamper shared 25th place after each had an 80. Jackie Van Meter was in 39th place with an 85.
The top-5 was rounded out by Morehead State (310) and Belmont (311). Tennessee Tech (313), Austin Peay (320), Eastern Illinois (331), SIU Edwardsville (333) and Tennessee State (359) made up the rest of the field through 18 holes.
The Shoals is playing to a par-72 and 6,203 yards for the OVC Women’s Championship.
Round two of the 54-hole event will begin Tuesday at 8 a.m. on the Fighting Joe Course at The Shoals. The Racers will have their first tee time at 10:30 a.m.
Howson will be anchoring MSU’s team and hits her first shot at 11:10 a.m.
While, she still has a long way to go, Howson is trying to be MSU’s first medalist of the event since Nikki Orazine did it in 2004.
