PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- It was very windy for the first day of play at the NCCAA Women’s Golf National Championship on Monday as Indiana Wesleyan University closes the opening day in seventh place.

The weather at The Hombre Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Florida played a major factor in the first of three rounds at the national championship.

“The course and the conditions really took a toll on all the teams,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Julie Wagner. “The best teams shot 20-25 strokes over their averages and we shot 40 strokes over our average.”

The Wildcats held sixth place much of the day until the final three holes were played. IWU shot 27-over par as a team during that final stretch to fall back to seventh place at the end of the opening round.

Dallas Baptist (Texas) holds a sizable lead on the field with a score of 320. Cedarville (Ohio) is a distant second place at 343 while Oklahoma Baptist is third at 353. Colorado Christian sits fourth with a score of 361 while Emmanuel (Ga.) is fifth at 368 and Bethel (Ind.) is sixth at 369. Indiana Wesleyan is 11 strokes behind Bethel at 380. There are nine teams in the competition.

Indiana Wesleyan was led by the tandem of Maggie Kaiser (JR/Belvidere, Ill.) and Carley LaPlant (SO/Adrian, Mich.). Each shot a first round score of 91 for a 17th place tie in the 47 player field. Rachel Thompson (SO/Avon, Ind.) fired a 96 for 31st place, Annika Harmon (FR/Jasper, Ind.) turned in a 102 for 37th place, and Brook Fullenkamp carded a 106 for 41st place.

“I was proud of this team staying in the 6th spot most of the day,” said Wagner. “Hopefully they can pull something together tomorrow.”

Round two of the NCCAA National Championship commences tomorrow at 8 a.m. at The Hombre Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Florida.