The Hope College women's golf team didn't get off just a good start to the final Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association fall tournament.
It was a record-setting one.
The Flying Dutch posted a school- and MIAA-course record of 299 Friday at Bedford Valley Golf Club in Battle Creek to grab the first-round lead at the league's 36-hole Fall Finish.
Hope, which is seeking a MIAA championship three-peat, finished 24 strokes ahead of runner-up Olivet and 28 ahead of third-place Saint Mary's.
The Flying Dutch extended their lead in the overall standings to 52 strokes over Saint Mary's with 18 holes remaining. The second round tees off at 10 a.m.
MIAA Season Standings
Four of Hope's six golfers shot sub-80 rounds.
Senior Britni Gielow of Norton Shores, Michigan (Mona Shores HS) and junior Nicole Meyer of Brighton, Michigan (Brighton) shared first-round medalist honors with 1-over-par 73s. They are tied for the seventh-lowest rounds in league history.
Junior Megan Klintworth of Jackson, Michigan (Hanover-Horton) chipped in a third-place 74. She tied for the ninth-lowest round in MIAA history.
"When our top three play like this, we're definitely going to score well," Hope coach Greg Stafford said. "We had a lot of confidence. We feel we play this course very well. I felt very good the whole round. I don't keep score, but I was watching Megan (Wierenga) and Dominique (Molinaro) and they were both playing well. I was clapping a lot."
Wierenga, a junior from Byron Center, Michigan (South Christian) rounded out Hope's scoring by tying for sixth with a 79.
Molinaro, a senior from Burtchville, Michigan (Port Huron Northern), tied for the lowest round of the day, even though the Flying Dutch did not need to count her score. Senior Elena Moore of South Lyon, Michigan (East) shot an 89.
Hope's team average after 90 holes of MIAA play is 316.6. The MIAA record of 322.7 belongs to Olivet's 2013 team.
Klintworth and Meyer are 1-2 in the individual standings with averages of 76.6 and 78.2, respectively. The MIAA record of 77.2 is owned by Saint Mary's Martyna Mierzwa from 2009.
Gielow (80.8) and Wierenga (81.8) rank fifth and sixth, respectively.
