LACEY, Wash. – George Fox (341) leads the rest of the field by one stroke after the first round of the Northwest Conference Spring Classic, hosted by Pacific Lutheran University at The Links at Hawks Prairie.

Linfield shot 381 over the opening 18 holes and trails the defending champion Bruins by 40 strokes heading to Sunday’s second round.

Whitman (342) is one stroke behind George Fox, followed by Whitworth (364), Pacific (372), Linfield (381), Puget Sound (389), and PLU (421).

Emily Guthrie of Whitworth leads individually with a first round score of 78. Whitman’s Katie Zajicek is only one stroke behind shooting a first round 79.

George Fox had two of its golfers share third place as Kelsey Morrison, and Jill Westendorf both shot an 83 on the day.

Linfield senior Brynn Hurdus had the best day for the Wildcats shooting an 18-hole score of 87 to place her in a tie for seventh with George Fox’s Sarah Askin.

Linfield’s Katie Kilborn shot 92, Alexandria Smith (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) carded a 99, Brinn Hovde (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) was at 103 and Lydia Smith scored 107 to complete the Linfield scoring.

Action resumes Sunday morning. The results of the NWC Spring Classic tournament count one-fourth towards determining the NWC team champion for 2010-11.