Twin sisters Heather and Carly Arison established themselves as two of the better golfers Thursday on the first day of competition at the 71st annual Phillip A. Rogers Junior Golf Tournament at J.E. Good Park Golf Course in Akron.

The recent Copley High School graduates, both 18, moved to the top of the girls' 16-18 flight. Heather had the lowest score of the day, shooting a 35 on the front nine and back nine. Overall, she shot a 1-under-par 70.

''I thought I was actually shooting par. So when they counted up my scores, I was happy to see it was 70 instead of 71,'' Heather Arison said.

''I just tried to keep my misses, my bad holes, to a bogey and I was able to do that.''

Carly Arison was right behind her with a 2-over-par 73, but she admitted she could have been a few strokes better. As she finished her day on the front nine, she double-bogeyed the seventh hole before having bogeys on the eighth and ninth to fall to 2 over par.

''I got a little ahead of myself going with three holes left. I am like 'Oh, I am 2 under. I could shoot 69' and I saw 69,'' Carly Arison said. ''I should have just not had that thought and got back to one stroke at a time, but I lost it and that is just part of the game.''

The Arison sisters, who will play golf at Brown University in the fall, were separated on the leaderboard by Alliance's Tianna Jones.

Jones dominated the back nine as she birdied the 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes to finish at even-par 71.

Chase Johnson was another golfer whose performance was followed intently throughout the day. The 12-year-old from Barberton eagled the fifth and 18th holes to finish with a 2-over-par 73 and control the boys' 11 and 12 flight leaderboard by nearly 10 strokes.

If it weren't for a costly 2-stroke penalty on the first hole, when he mistook a ball for his own, Johnson might have finished at even par.

''The marking was almost the same as my ball so I played it and when I went to mark my ball on the green, it was not the same ball,'' Johnson said.

''So I went back and found my ball, chipped up and one-putted. So if I would have played my ball the first time, I would have gotten a birdie.''

University of Akron recruit Steve Bednar, a Stow-Munroe Falls High School graduate, was unable to duplicate his qualifying round of 2-under-69 Thursday.

Instead, he dropped back 7 strokes to 5-over-par 76.

Isaac Charette holds the overall lead in the championship flight with a score of 73. Mogadore senior Nathan Tarter shot a 74.

Patrick Steffen leads the boys' 10-and-under flight after one day of competition with a 42, 6 strokes ahead of Brian Schultz and Zachary Supelak. The 10-and-under flight only plays nine holes.

The tournament continues today with the final round of play.