After two rounds at the Windy City Collegiate Championships in Chicago, Ill., the Arizona Women’s golf team finds themselves in second place going into today’s final round.

As a result of the team’s two-round 582 (6-over-par), the Wildcats are a sizeable 18 strokes behind leader and No. 14-ranked Purdue and one stroke ahead of New Mexico.

For the Wildcats, the story has been the continued success of sophomores Margarita Ramos and Isabelle Boineau, along with the coming-out party for freshman Sherlyn Popelka.

Ramos, Boineau and Popelka all finished up rounds one and two at 144-even-par and are currently tied for ninth place.

Ramos is looking for her second top-five finish in as many tournaments and heads into the tournament ranked among the top five female golfers in the country.

Boineau, a native of France, has made a habit of finishing day one tied with Ramos. The same duo that spent most of the summer together competing in Europe was all knotted up after day one at the Mason Rudolph Championships as well. Boineau finished that tournament in 25th place.

Popelka, the highly touted freshman, opened up her collegiate career with a 70 (2-under-par). She followed up the terrific round with a 74 (2-over-par).

While the Wildcat underclassmen flourished, junior Alejandra Llaneza and senior Brittany Benvenuto have struggled thus far. Benvenuto posted a first-round 81 (9-over-par) but somewhat bounced back with a second-round 76 (4-over-par) while, Llaneza put together a solid round one 74 (2-over-par) but fell out of contention with a round two score of 79 (7-over-par).

The final 18 holes of the tournament will begin for the Wildcats today at 9 a.m.

Men’s golf in sixth after day one

After 36 holes at the University of Nevada’s Wolfpack Classic, the Arizona men’s golf team stands in sixth place out of 13 teams.

The team posted an impressive 359 (1-under-par) first round, but struggled through a 368 (8-over-par) to finish 10 strokes back of the lead. Reno’s uncharacteristically brisk weather didn’t help the Wildcats’ cause.

Snow put a damper on the teams’ practice round, and the 46 degree weather left much to be desired for head coach Rick LaRose’s squad.

“”It’s something you have to deal with,”” junior All-American Tarquin MacManus said. “”I just think some teams handled it a little bit better than we did.””

The weather certainly had an effect on the usually reliable MacManus. While his 147 (3-over-par) is not bad by any means, it is not what the team is accustomed to seeing out of the All-American.

Aside from MacManus, veteran players juniors John Kostis and Jonathan Khan and senior Rich Saferian played well despite the conditions.  Kostis posted a two-round 143 (1-under-par). Joining him in the under-par club was Saferian, who also carded a 143. Khan finished day one at even par 144.

Kenji Hernandez, the youngest player in the lineup, struggled. The sophomore carded a respectable first-round 73 (1-over-par) but battled his way to a 77 (5-over-par) during the second.

MacManus believes if the weather conditions improve, the team has a chance to make a run at first place.

“”(The weather) is going to be a bit of the same tomorrow,”” MacManus said. “”We just have to come out better, stick to our game, get after it and we may be able to make some noise.””