PALM DESERT, Calif. - Ella Chiu shot a 74, including birdies on two of her last four holes, but the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's golf team slipped into eighth place after the third of four rounds of the NCAA Division III Championships on Thursday at the Desert Willow Golf Resort. 

The Athenas are now at +32 after three rounds, in a tight cluster of teams between 5th and 10th. Emory (+6) and Carengie Mellon (+7) have separated themselves from the rest of the field with NYU (+17) and Washington and Lee (+18) also separating themselves for third and fourth. 

Behind those four are a group of six teams hoping to shoot low in the final round tomorrow to earn their way on to the podium if one or more of the teams above them falter. Middlebury stands at +29, Pomona-Pitzer at +30, Williams at +31, CMS at +32, and WashU and Amherst both at +34. 

The Athenas came into the day in fourth, but slipped back as the desert temperatures heated up. Chiu stayed steady, opening with a birdie and closing strong, and Precilla Tea had her best round of the tournament to finish as one of the four scorers for CMS at +5. Christine Yu was +4 on the day, and Alisa Ching had two straight birdies on the back nine looking to find a comfort level with the Firecliff Course heading into tomorrow's final round. 

CMS will tee off tomorrow on the 10th tee at Firecliff, beginning at 8:10 a.m., looking to see if it can make up the gap between itself and the four podium teams.