MURRELLS INLET, S.C. – Mountain Ridge High School missed the flight it hoped to take and a night’s sleep en route to the third annual Fall Palmetto High School Golf Championship. But the Glendale, Ariz., team didn’t miss many shots on the course.

Teeing off less than 4:30 hours after arriving in Myrtle Beach, all four Mountain Ridge players shots in the 70s, led by Nick Garrett’s par 72, at Wachesaw Plantation East, giving the Mt. Lions a three-shot lead after the tournament’s first day.

Mountain Ridge shot a 17-over 305 but Centreville (Va.) High School and Dobyns-Bennett (Kingsport, Tenn.) are lurking after shooting 308 on a sunny Wachesaw course that played 6,297 yards.

For the Mt. Lions, just getting to course was something of an accomplishment.

“We started off in Phoenix (Thursday night) and we were hoping to get on an earlier flight and wasn’t able to make it,” Mountain Ridge coach Jeff Williams said. “Instead of going directly to Charlotte, we ended up going to Vegas (first). It was a long night for the kids sleeping on the plane and having a couple hour lay over in Vegas and Charlotte … We arrived in Myrtle Beach at 8:30 a.m. in the morning and we got to condo around 10:30.”

Mikey O’Neil and Alex Vetnar shot 77s and Alex Roeller a 79, placing each of them in the top 10.

“To have four guys in the 70s after the long flight, that’s awesome,” Williams said.

While Mountain Ridge has every right to be pleased with its performance, they have a lot of work to do in Saturday’s final round at the Tradition Club if they hope to win the event.

Dobyns-Bennett’s Alex Ratliff and Noori Hyun of Centreville each shot 1-under par 71s, the best individual scores of the day and have their teams well positioned for a run at the title. After closing the front nine with consecutive bogey’s, Ratliff shot a scorching 33 on the home nine, birding 10, 13 and 16.

Hyun also enjoyed a strong back nine. He birdied 10 and 11, bogeyed 12, and rolled in a 30-foot birdie on 13 to surge to the top of the leaderboard.

Cookeville (Tenn.) High School’s Jake Powell shot a 75, putting him in fourth place. Centreville’s Cameron Stark rounded out the top five with a 76. (Complete first day scoreboard)

The first round of the girls tournament was played at Tradition Club and the Baylor School from Chattanooga, Tenn., dominated, shooting an impressive 9-over, 297. Five girls players are tied atop the individual leaderboard and three of them are from Baylor.

Kathryn Miranda from Lexington (SC) High School, Cookeville (Tenn.) High School’s Amanda Randolph and Baylor’s Annabelle Kummerant, Elena Pesch and Sofia Hoglund all shot 74s.

Morgan McQuary rounded out Baylor’s top four with a 75, giving the Raiders a commanding 15-shot lead over second place Lexington. (complete first day leaderboard)

The final round of the girls tournament will be played Saturday at Wachesaw Plantation East.