Friday, October 17, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Western Washington women’s golf team placed four golfers in the Top 10 to win the Dixie State Invitational Monday and Tuesday in St. George, Utah.

The Vikings finished with a tournament best 301 in the second round after positioning themselves in fourth with a 309 on Day 1.

This is the first regular season tournament that the Vikings have won since the 2011-12 season.

Audrey Orem led the Vikings, tying for third place and earning her GNAC Golfer of the Week.

Orem opened the tournament shooting a 72 which put her in second. The 72 was her best round of the season so far. A 79 on the second day carded Orem a 151 for the tournament, three strokes behind the winner.

Jenn Paul and Kristen Hansen tied for fifth, shooting identical 78, 74 rounds in the invitational. Paul leads the GNAC with an average score of 74 while Hansen and Orem are third and fourth with averages of 74.3 and 77.7 respectively.

Sophomore Brooke Branigan also recorded a 74 on the second day which positioned her for a ninth place tie. This was Branigan’s first Top 10 finish of the year and the second in her Viking career.

WWU’s Anna Bourland finished in the top half of the 65-player tournament, finishing 31st with a two-round score of 167.

Northwest Nazarene also traveled to Utah for this event, being led by GNAC honorable mention Haley Gochnour’s 15th place finish.

Gochnour shot her best two rounds of the season, recording identical 80’s in the two-day tournament to finish with a score of 160. Teammate Sam Miller was right behind Gochnour, shooting an 80 and 81 to tie for 16th with a final score of 161.

As a team, the Crusaders tied for seventh with a two-round score of 672. This was a 26 stroke improvement from their last tournament where the team ended the invite with a 698.

Northwest Nazarene is done with its fall golf season while Western Washington will compete in its last fall event, the Sonoma State Invitational, on Monday and Tuesday.

Fellow GNAC member Simon Fraser is also closing out 2014 on Monday and Tuesday at the University of Victoria Invitational.