CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's Santiago Caride fired a 67 (-5) to sit tied for seventh on Thursday during the opening round of the NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional Championships at Victoria Club in Riverside, California.
 
The junior from Argentina registered seven birdies during the opening round with five of the feathers coming on the back-nine. The Buffs led all teams with a 3.75 scoring average on par 4's as they tallied 22 birdies on Thursday.
 
WT fired a 279 (-9) during the opening round to sit tied for fifth on the team leaderboard as the Buffs had four players shoot in the red: Caride (67), Luis Palomo (70), Victor Estas (71) and Stetson Provence (71).
 
Top-ranked Colorado Christian fired an impressive 270 (-18) on Thursday to hold a two-stroke lead over Cal State San Bernardino (272, -16) followed by CSU East Bay (-15), Oklahoma Christian (-10), WT (-9) and DBU (-9). Baptiste Touchard of St. Mary's and Oskari Nikku of Oklahoma Christian carded identical rounds of 63 (-9) to sit tied atop of the individual leaderboard.
 
The Buffs will be paired with Cal State San Marco as well as a group of individuals on Friday with traditional tee times for the WT pairings beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT.
 
Buffs on the Leaderboard
T7 – Santiago Caride – 67 (-5)
T24 – Luis Palomo – 70 (-2)
T35 – Victor Estas – 71 (-1)
T35 – Stetson Provence – 71 (-1)
T52 – Jose Rozas – 72 (E)