Women's Golf 5/16/2025 7:40:17 PM

Big West Individual Medalist Kaitlyn Zermeno Smith Leads Cal State Fullerton in First Round of NCAA Championships

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Big West individual medalist Kaitlyn Zermeno Smith paced the league champion Cal State Fullerton Titans in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships from Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on Friday morning.

Cal State Fullerton is just the eighth Big West team to qualify for the NCAA Championships, and the first since 2015. The Titans are making an historic first appearance, to join UC Davis (4 appearances) and UC Irvine (3) as the only three league programs to achieve the feat.

Opening the round on No. 10, Zermeno Smith carded an opening-round 1-over 73 with four birdies on the day. The junior from Covina, Calif., recorded two red numbers per nine to land in a tie for 46th place after the first 18 holes of competition and just one stroke out of the large grouping in 27th at even par.

Kathi Zellinger, a third-year player from Neuhofen, Austria, finished at 4-over 78 with a pair of birdies. Hailing from Weston Super Mare, England, junior Davina Xanh finished at 5-over 79 with a birdie on the 11th hole. Rounding out the countable scores was sophomore Zara Ali’s 10-over 82 as the Tritons closed the day with an aggregate score of 308 (+20).

Competing as the only unranked team in the field and the first No. 10 seed at a regional to advance to the final site, Cal State Fullerton is in 29th place, two strokes behind 29th-ranked Iowa State and four back from seventh-ranked Wake Forest.

The second round for the Titans is set to tee off beginning at 1:40 p.m. from Hole No. 1 in the final five groups of the day, again competing with athletes from Baylor (+8) and Purdue (+15) in their groupings.

Cal State Fullerton is guaranteed 54 holes of golf and can extend to 72 by making a climb into the top 15 teams by the end of Sunday’s round. The top nine individuals not on a team making the cut will also compete in Monday’s stroke play finale before Tuesday and Wednesday see the top eight teams compete in match play for the title.

Vanderbilt is leading the team competition with a score of 6-under 282 with second-place Oklahoma State (-4) as the only other under-par team on the day. Individually, Tennessee’s Bailey Davis’ 5-under 67 is atop the leaderboard.