Shooting the worst round of the tournament, Western Washington University fell one spot and is tied for fifth place following play Thursday at the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf National Championships at Houston.

Western shot 323 for a 54- hole total of 933 and is tied with Tarleton State (Texas) (310) in the eight-team field. The Vikings, who were fourth after the first two rounds, placed second at the West Regional behind Tarleton.

Nova Southeastern (Fla.) (300), the leader after each of the first two rounds, is now tied for the top spot in the team standings at 887 with Rollins (Fla.) (293). A distant third at 918 is Grand Valley State (Mich.) (308), with Ferris State (Mich.) fourth at 924 (320).

“Today was definitely disappointing,” Western coach Bo Stephan said. “We went out thinking that we would play our

best golf and we played pretty much our worst golf, at least in the last few weeks.”

Breanna Carmichael and Kaitlin Parker each shot 79s to lead Western. Carmichael is tied for 15th at 229 and Parker is tied for 17th at 230.

The Vikings’ Lianne Matkin shot 81 and is tied for 40th at 244, and Catherine Kim and Allison Gillette each posted 84s. Kim is tied for 29th at 236 and Gillette is 38th at 241.

Rollins’ Joanna Coe took over the medalist lead at 212 after shooting a 4- under 68.

WWU MEN TIED FOR 8TH

Western Washington’s Sean Packer shot a second straight 1-under par 69 and is in a five-way tie for third in medalist play, one stroke behind the leader, after second-day action at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championships in Houston.

The Vikings dropped four spots into a four-way tie for eighth in the team standings as they posted a second-round score of 9-over 289 for a 36-hole total of 11-over 571.

That is 12 strokes behind leader Georgia College, which had an 8-under 272 for a 1-under total of 559. Indianapolis is second, trailing by five shots at 564 (284).

“It was somewhat of a disappointing day for us,” Western coach Steve Card said. “I look at it that we are only 12 shots out of the lead with 36 holes to play. There’s a lot of golf to be played and it’s pretty packed up. If we can put together a good round tomorrow and Saturday, we could be right in the mix.”

Packer’s round had five birdies, one bogey and one double bogey for a twoday total of 138. Tied for the medalist lead at 3-under 137 are Florida Southern’s Jude Eustaquio (63-74), the firstround leader, and West Florida’s Kyle Scott (72-65).

Also shooting 69 for Western was Brandon Brown, who is tied for 53rd at 145.

The Vikings’ Jake Koppenberg shot a 74 following an opening-round 69 and is tied for 33rd at 143. Julian Peters and Thomas Jun each had 77s, Peters is tied for 69th at 147 and Jun is tied for 94th at 151.