PLYMOUTH Ind. - A 3-under-par 69 by Tomas Ribeiro has the Iowa Central men's golf team in prime position after the first day of the NJCAA Div. II Championships here Monday.

With a 288 team score, the Tritons are one shot back of leader and defending national champion South Mountain. Parkland and Kirkwood are tied for third with Grand Rapids fifth.

Ribeiro is also among the individual leaders following his four-birdie round. 

Justin Schipper fired an even-par 72 with Joe Forsting a shot back at 1-over. Austin Erickson had a 2-over and Liam Ross a 6-over at Swan Lake Resort's black course.

"It was a great first day," Iowa Central head coach Kris Graewin said. "The guys have gotten a nice feel for the golf course and started to settle in. We played the par-5s really well and that's always a focus for us. We left a few shots out there, as well.

"We had some uncharacteristic penalty shots, so we'll need to clean those up and get ready for (Tuesday)."

Ribeiro, who had the low round at regionals to help the Tritons qualify, overcame an opening hole bogey to shoot a 34 on the front-nine. That included birdies on No. 4, 5 and 8 to go along with five pars. 

On the back, Ribeiro started with three consecutive pars before a pair of bogeys dropped him to even-par for the round. He quickly recovered, scoring an eagle on the par-5 512-yard No. 15.

Ribeiro closed out with a pair of pars and a birdie on No. 18, another par-5. He played the four par-5 holes in five-under for the day. 

"(Monday) was pretty good day," Ribeiro said. "My mental game was really solid as we as my golf game. I think we still left some shots behind but we have three more days to get it back.

"The team is pretty solid and I'm pretty confident that we will fight to get the win."

Schipper had an eagle on the par-5 No. 4 to go with four birdies and seven pars. Forsting had four pars, with two each coming on the front and back. He also carded nine pars on his round.

Erickson started his round like Ribeiro with a bogey on the first and also had a double-bogey on the sixth but finished strong. On the back-nine, Erickson had an eagle on the 15th to go along with two birdies and three pars. 

Ross had two birdies on the front and eight pars. 

"We're a quarter of the way through the race," Graewin said. "There's a lot of shots and holes yet to be played so it's my job to keep everyone focused on the next shot."

-By Dana Becker