RAPID CITY - Two NAIA golf powerhouses are where everyone expected them to be after the first day of the NAIA Women's Golf National Championships - right at the top.

California Baptist and Oklahoma City capitalized on relatively calm, beautiful conditions in the morning, while Bethel (Ind.) and British Columbia battled through windier, nastier afternoon weather to take the top four spots in the team competition after the first day of the four-day tournament at Meadowbrook Golf Course. California Baptist capitalized on a one-under par 71 from first-round leader Adriana Niclotti and holds a five-stroke advantage over four-time defending champion Oklahoma City and British Columbia.

Niclotti had two birdies, one bogey and 15 pars over a round where the Brazilian didn't feel like she played her best.

"The round was good, I didn't hit it that good, the ball, it wasn't my best, but it worked out good," Niclotti said. "I thought I would play good because I was hitting the ball good on Friday and Saturday, but then today I went to the range and was like, 'Oh my gosh, what is this?' I thought I would shoot 100 today. Then I got on the course (it was) working and everything was good."

Things were good for most of the Cal Baptist team, as all five players shot scores between Niclotti's 71 and Jessica Williams' 77.

"We talked about how we wanted to stay bunched together," California Baptist head coach Lane Pace said. "We did a good job of that. We also wanted to concentrate on making bogey our worst score and we did that. One of our girls getting a bad break in a bunker on No. 13 where the ball was really buried and got a triple, but that was the only hole where we had a score worse than bogey. That's what you have to do at a national tournament."

Four-time defending champion Oklahoma City team got a 73 from Christina Cung and no score higher than a 77 to register their 302. Cung's 73 put her tied for third place in the individual race.

"I'm pretty happy," Oklahoma City head coach M.J. Desbiens said. "You're always a little nervous for the first round of nationals and coming in being ranked No. 1 all year there's a little added pressure there, but I thought that they handled it well."

One player that handled it very well was Cung, who capitalized on the experience of winning a

tournament at Meadowbrook last fall.

"She hasn't had the best year but she won the fall tournament here so I think she's very comfortable on this golf course," Desbiens said. "She played just pretty much mistake free, if you can say that. She played very well."

British Columbia's Kyla Inaba, last year's individual runner-up, fired an even-par 72 and sits all alone in second place. Inaba's teammate, Lindsey Manion, capitalized on a 120-yard eagle on

No. 3, to shoot 73 and tie Cung for third place. Those two scores helped British Columbia equal Oklahoma City's first-round score.

Bethel (Ind.) sits one shot behind BC and Oklahoma City thanks to matching 74s put up by Katie Powell and defending individual champion Shanna Page. Page was very pleased to be just three shots out of the lead after playing in some trying conditions in the afternoon.

"That wind was unreal," Page said. "I really have never played in wind like this, it was unreal. You'd do your pre-shot routine and prepare with the wind in your face and then right when you went to hit the ball it would switch and go with you. But it's fun, it's part of the game. You can't always play in the best weather."

A.J. Rolfson paced Black Hills State with an 84. The Yellow Jackets' registered a first-day team score of 357 to sit in 25th place. Four teams, including host school South Dakota School of Mines, didn't finish the first round because of darkness. Those four schools are first off this morning at 7:30 a.m., so they will just begin their day with a couple of extra holes to play.