Middle Tennessee shot a 6-under 278 on the par-71 course and put itself in contention among the 27-team field entering Friday's second round. The top 10 teams advance into the NCAA National Championship, May 28-31. No. 1 overall seed Georgia shot 19-under and owns the first-round lead, followed by Augusta State (11-under), SMU (8-under), Middle Tennessee (6-under) and Mississippi State (6-under).

Sophomore Kent Bulle highlighted the team's opening round with a 4-under 67 on the strength of six birdies. Junior Chas Narramore also fashioned another of his trademark consistent rounds with a bogey-free 2-under 69, followed by senior Nick Bailes' 1-under 70. Rick Cochran was 1-over 72. Freshman Jason Millard's 4-over 75 did not count toward the team score on the opening day.

"It was imperative that we get off to a good start and we did that," Middle Tennessee Head Coach Whit Turnbow said. "We have a good plan for this course. Having seen it in the fall and under tournament conditions benefited us today because we have seen a lot of hole placements and where the spots are on the course where you can get in trouble so we do have a plan. We didn't execute it as well as we can but we executed it well enough to give ourselves a chance going into the weekend."

If you don't buy into the concept of collegiate golf being a team sport, think again, at least where the Blue Raiders are concerned. It did not take long for Bulle's dynamic start to spread throughout the course, particularly amongst his teammates.

The Blue Raiders started on the back and finished on the front and Bulle, the sophomore from Glasgow, Ky., wasted no time establishing him and team as he collected six of the team's 17 birdies on opening day, including securing birdies on his first four holes and five of the first six. He shot 5-under 30 on the back.

"I was real nervous on the first tee and was just trying to get it in play," Bulle said. "I made a birdie on 10 and then I made a great putt on 11 for a birdie, then another on 12 and at that point I started feeling good. You just start to feel comfortable when that happens."

Bulle's sizzling start to the tournament left him tied for seventh after the opening round, two shots off the tournament lead. The good start for Bulle should be extremely uplifting for the rest of the weekend as he came into the NCAA East Regional with a 74.6 first round average for the season - fifth best on the team - but he has consistently played better in subsequent rounds throughout the season. He said the key to his play Thursday was nothing more than smart golf.

"I didn't aim at very many flag sticks today," Bulle said. "I just tried to keep the golf ball in front of me, keep it in the fairway, get on the green somewhere and then get a good speed down. It just happened that putts ended up falling for me. We are very pleased with our start. We had it to 8- or 9-under and were trying to get it to 10-under today but to finish at 6-under on a course like this, you can't hang your head about that."

As impressive as Bulle was, Narramore was equally remarkable with his bogey-free round that featured birdies on Nos. 2 and 11 and outstanding shots around the rest of the course.

"Anytime you can have a bogey-free round, whether it's playing with friends or in the NCAA Regional which is way more important, that is something else, especially to do that on this course," Narramore said. "I just played smart all day, hit it in the middle of the green and I got a couple of good breaks that I was able to utilize. We really played solid as a team. Kent got us started and everyone knew he was playing solid. The overall team played great. Playing in a regional is something different and our guys handled it well so I'm proud of all of us."

Bailes had reason to be beaming with pride after a 1-under 70, particularly playing within a stones throw of his hometown of Cleveland, Tenn. The lone senior on the Blue Raider team had birdies on Nos. 2 and 16 and his only hiccup was a double bogey on the par-3 15.

Middle Tennessee finds itself ahead of 14 teams ranked ahead of it after the opening round, including six Top 25 teams (North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Michigan State, Duke, South Carolina and East Tennessee).

The Blue Raiders will begin teeing off at 11:12 a.m. (Central) Friday. Hole-by-hole live scoring is available on Golfstat.com or on a link on the GoBlueRaiders.com home page.

NCAA East Regional
Council Fire Golf Course, Par-71
Chattanooga, Tenn.
First Round Team Scores
1 Georgia 265 -19
2 Augusta State 273 -11
4 SMU 276 -8
T4 Middle Tennessee 278 -6
T4 Mississippi State 278 -6
6 North Carolina State 279 -5
7 New Mexico State 280 -4
T8 Virginia Tech 281 -3
T8 Auburn 281 -3
T8 Charlotte -3 281
T11 Colorado State 282 -2
T11 Chattanooga 282 -2
13 UC-Irvine 283 -1
T14 Michigan State 285 +1
T14 Coastal Carolina 285 +1
T14 Western Carolina 285 +1
T17 Duke 286 +2
T17 Virginia 286 +2
T17 East Tennessee 286 +2
T20 Georgia State 287 +3
T20 UAB 287 +3
22 South Carolina 288 +4
23 Memphis 289 +5
T24 North Florida 293 +9
T24 Western Illinois 293 +9
T24 Mississippi 293 +9
27 Jackson State 302 +18

T5 MT Team Scores (278)
T7 Kent Bulle 67 -4
T21 Chas Narramore 69 -2
T33 Nick Bailes 70 -1
T60 Rick Cochran 72 +1
T106 Jason Millard 75 +4

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