GOODYEAR, Ariz. – North Dakota State men's golf opened up the spring semester on Sunday with a -13 round of 275 for a five-shot lead at the Loyola Intercollegiate held at the Palm Valley Golf Club.
 
The Bison hold the lead over Northern Colorado, who sit in second. Loyola Maryland sits third, six shots behind the Bison, while SIU Edwardsville and Delaware round out the top five, sitting eight shots back in the 20-team field.
 
Jake Skarperud led the way for the Bison with a -7 round of 65 to sit in a two-way tie for first place after the first of three rounds. Skarperud, who started with a bogey, then reeled off three birdies over the next four holes to get to -2. Following a bogey, he then recorded a birdie, eagle and birdie to jump to -5 through nine holes. In his final nine holes, Skarperud recorded four more birdies and three pars.
 
Skarperud finished the first round with a collegiate best round score (65) and birdies in a round (9) plus an eagle. The sophomore's previous best round was a 69 in the fall.
 
Nate Adams sits two shots back of Skarperud and in a tie for third after an opening round of 67. Adams recorded a clean round without a bogey or worse, carding 14 pars, three birdies and an eagle. Adams opened up with two pars and then had birdies on two of the following three holes. Sitting at -2 through nine holes, Adams started his back nine with a birdie and then jumped to third with an eagle on his 16^th hole of the day.
 
Jack Johnson, who was among the leaders early with a pair of birdies and an eagle in his first six holes, sits in a tie for 14^th after a round of 70 to begin the three-day event. Johnson would add three more birdies in his round, but had a double bogey and three bogeys on his back nine to drop out of the early lead.
 
Rounding out the team scoring for the Bison on day one was Ian Simonich, who finished with a +1 round of 73 to sit in 55^th out of 116 golfers. Simonich recorded three birdies and 11 pars in his round. Gavin Cronkhite shot a 77 on his first day. Cronkhite had five birdies and five pars in his round, but also had six bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.
 
Josh Galvin, playing as an individual, sits one shot ahead of Simonich in a tie for 42^nd after an even par round of 72. Galvin started with a bogey and ended with a double bogey, but finished with three birdies and 13 pars over the other 16 holes.
 
The Bison are set to get underway with the second round on Monday with an 8:45 a.m. CT tee time from Palm Valley Golf Club. The Bison will tee off between holes one and three in the shotgun start.