For the UA women's golf team, the second round of the Conquistadores/Chris Johnson Arizona Invitational contained both good news and bad news.
The good news first.
The Wildcats shaved three shots off their first round 304, firing a 13-over-par 301 and moving up a spot to third place behind second place UCLA (300), entering today's final round.
The bad news is that Arizona State scorched Randolph Park North Golf Course yesterday, firing a 1-under-par 287 to go with its opening-round 292, and are alone in first place by a whopping 21 strokes with a 579.
The Sun Devils' dominance is total, as Tracy Cone (143), Heather Bowie (144) and Emilee Klein (145) have claimed the top three spots at the par-72 course.
Despite having virtually no chance for victory, UA coach Kim Haddow was pleased with the team's second-round
We're glad we had improvement," Haddow said. "My freshmen led the team today, which is very exciting."
Freshmen Brenna Cepelak, who shot a 2-over 74, and Kelly Heffer, who fired a 1-over 73, paced Arizona, keeping them one shot ahead of Stanford and two ahead of Wake Forest.
The second round was a lot better than the first," Cepelak said. "I was 1-under on the back, but I had a double bogey, so I could have played a bit better.
The team played better today. Hopefully we can put four good rounds together tomorrow and break 300."
Senior All-American Leta Lindley faltered a little yesterday, shooting a 5-over 77, good for a 6-over 150, and eighth place overall.
Junior Ulrika Johansson added a 77 to sit in 10th place at 152 and sophomore Jeanne Anne Krizman is at 156 after a second-round 79.
Leta struggled today, but that's going to happen, and Ulrika and Jeanne Anne had a few tough holes on the back side," Haddow said.
The team will not attempt to alter its game in an effort to make up strokes, Haddow said.
We'll play our own game, we are on our own journey through the golf course," she said.