Nicholas Prieto birdied the first two holes then eagled No. 17 to shoot 4-under-par 67 at Bermuda Run East to spark host Wake Forest into a tie for third place after the first round of the 14-team NCAA Winston-Salem Regional.
The Demon Deacons shot 6-under 278 as a team, tying Southern Cal, Ole Miss and Mississippi State — seven strokes behind leader Virginia and five back from Pepperdine. Kentucky is another two shots off the pace.The top five teams after 54 holes on the 7,013-yard course will qualify for the national tournament at Carlsbad, California, with the top individual from a non-qualifying team.
Prieto trails Virginia’s Ben James and two Pepperdine players in the medalist race. Other Wake scores were Jakob Melin, Lorenzo Rodriguez with 70, Maddux Cook with 71 and Tom Haberer with 72. Tyler Jones of Western Carolina, playing as an individual, shot 67. Kelvin Hernandez of UNC Greensboro, who qualified for the national tourney last year, shot 72.
N.C. State shot 287, nine shots from a qualifying spot. Rylan Shim led the Wolfpack with 69.
Carson Bertagnole shot 5-under 67 at Bryan, Texas, to lead North Carolina into second, only two strokes behind host Texas A&M. A co-leader, Bertagnole led a Tar Heel team with all five players shooting par or better.
In other regionals, Will Love shot 7-under 65 in Marana, Arizona, to share second for Duke, which is in fifth, five shots behind leader Arizona.
Justin Matthews shot 4-under 67 in Corvallis, Oregon, to tie for second and power Charlotte into a tie for fifth at 280 in a crowded field led by Purdue.