MINOT -- Grand Forks Red River's Lexi Nord was steady out and in at the Minot Country Club.
Nord shot a first-round 78 to lead Red River to a fourth-place standing at the North Dakota state Class A high school girls golf tournament on Monday.
Minot leads the tournament with 325 strokes, followed by Fargo Shanley (338), Dickinson (344) and Red River (347).
"Overall, we played real well," Red River coach Sue Ann Tannahill said. "But the last three holes, we kind of fell apart as a team.
"We like where we're at -- three strokes from Dickinson and nine from Shanley. It got pretty windy toward the end there, but at least it didn't rain."
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Jamestown's Laura Kraft is the individual leader after shooting an opening-round 71. The final 18 holes are today.
Nord is tied for third with Shanley's Liz Strom. West Fargo's Krista Weiszhaar is second with a 75.
"Lexi had a great day," Tannahill said.
Grand Forks Central, paced by Taylor Lund's 89, is 11th.
Nord shot identical 39s on the front and the back.
Minot has a commanding team lead in part because of the play of Emma Kusick.
At last week's West Region meet, Kusick shot an 80, her best competitive golf round to date.
Kusick did one better Monday.
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The sophomore fired a career-low 79.
"I just decided to have fun and everything started to click," Kusick said. "It's good I started playing well right before the state tournament."
After firing a 41 on the front, Kusick, Minot's No. 4 golfer, carded a 38 on the back.
Individually, Kraft continued her top play.
A week after taking the West Region title with a 73, Kraft was 1 under Monday.
"I was really happy with how things went," Kraft said. "My putting was really good. I was feeling really confident with that. Just playing a little more steady helped me out a lot."
