Western Washington University’s Breanna Carmichael tied for 15th in medalist play and the Vikings placed sixth in the team standings at the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf National Championships on Friday at Houston.
Western shot a final-round 32-over par 320 to finish the four-day, 72-hole tourney at 1,253. The Vikings were fourth after the first two days with rounds of 304 and 306, then dropped to fifth with a third-day round of 323.
Top-ranked Rollins (Fla.), which won four straight national titles from 2003 to 2006, rallied to take top honors with a score of 1,181 (294). That was seven strokes better than No. 2- rated Nova Southeastern (Fla.) (3011, 188), which was making its first national appearance.
Grand Valley State (Mich.) finished a distant third (3031, 221) in the eight-team tourney.
“We played 10 rounds in 15 days and I don’t know if we got fatigued or what, but we just couldn’t get anything going the last two rounds,” Western coach Bo Stephan said.
Carmichael closed out the tourney with a round of 5-over 77, the Vikings’ best of the day, for a 306 total.
Western’s Catherine Kim (79) and Kaitlin Parker (85) tied for 29th at 315. Lianne Matkin tied for 36th at 324 (80) and Allison Gillette tied for 38th at 325 (84).
Rollins’ Joanna Coe captured medalist honors, finishing at 1-under 287 (75).
PACKER LEADING WWU MEN
Western Washington’s Sean Packer is tied for fourth in medalist play, just two strokes off the lead, and the Vikings are ninth in the team standings heading into final-round play today at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championships at Houston.
The Vikings fell one spot after shooting a 9-over par 289 on Friday, giving them a 54-hole total of 860. They were tied for fourth after Wednesday’s opening round and tied for eighth following Thursday’s play.
West Florida took over the top spot after posting a 4-under 276 for an 843 total. That is four strokes better than second-place Georgia College (288, 847), which led after two rounds in the 20- team field.
Just six strokes separate Western from three schools tied for third at 855. They are North Alabama (284), Indianapolis (291) and St. Edward’s (286).
“We’ve got an opportunity to move up with a good round and have an historic finish,” Western coach Steve Card said.
Packer was 1-under and tied for the lead before bogeying his final two holes for a 1-over 71 and a total of 1-under 209. He opened the tournament with back-toback 69s.
Western’s highest individual finish at a NCAA II national tournament is fifth by Brian Flugstand in 2000 and Joel Immordino in 2002.
West Florida’s Kyle Scott holds a 1- shot medalist lead at 3-under 207 (70).
The Vikings’ Thomas Jun had a 1-over 71 and is tied for 80th at 222, Brandon Brown shot 72 and is tied for 48th at 217, Jake Koppenberg had a 75 and is tied for 54th at 218 and Julian Peters shot a 76 and is tied for 84th at 223.