Friday, April 10, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - All five GNAC women’s golf teams finished up the spring regular-season in the last week.

Western Washington was busy, competing in the Western New Mexico Mustang Intercollegiate Friday and Saturday before finishing the regular season at the Sonoma State West Regional Spring Preview Monday and Tuesday.

WWU’s Jenn Paul averaged just over a 78 per round in these two tournaments while finishing as the top GNAC golfer at the West Region Preview. Paul earned her first GNAC Golfer of the Week honor this spring with her performance at the preview.

At the Mustang Intercollegiate, the Vikings were the top finishing GNAC team as Montana State Billings and Saint Martin’s also competed.

Three WWU golfers ended the first day with scores in the 70’s as the Vikings road that performance to a seventh-place finish. Sophomore Brooke Branigan was the only GNAC golfer with two scores below 80, as she finished tied for 21st. Freshman Paul wasn’t too far behind, adding one stroke more than Branigan to tie for 30th.

MSUB’s Sammy Walter shot the second lowest individual round for the GNAC, carding a 154 to tie for 19th. The Yellowjackets would end up in 14th. The low round of the tournament belonged to Saint Martin’s Jennifer Liedes, who led her team to an 18th-place finish.

At the West Regional Preview, the Vikings were joined by Northwest Nazarene and Simon Fraser.

The Crusaders Haley Gochnour was the top GNAC finisher after day one, shooting a six-over 78 on the 5,842-yard course. Only one Crusader would improve on their opening round on day two however, as NNU placed 13h.

Paul improved by five strokes from her opening round, carding a 76 for the second time in five days, and ended the tournament tied for 19th. The Vikings were the top finisher among the GNAC again, tying for 11th.

Simon Fraser was led by Michelle Waters who shot a 166 in the two-round tournament. Rochelle Rezansoff improved her second-round score by eight strokes, helping the Clan to an 18th-place finish.

At the end of the spring season, Paul is the individual leader in the GNAC, averaging a low of 76.2 per round. Not far behind her is SMU’s Liedes who cards 76.6 each round.

The Vikings own five of the lowest seven rounds on average and lead the GNAC carding a team-low 311.7 per round. MSUB and SMU come in at second and third at 327.3 and 327.6 respectively.

With the regular-season in the books, the conference team’s attention now turns to the GNAC Championships April 20-21 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course in Idaho.

The par 71, 5,914-yard course encompasses 200 acres on the edge Lake Coeur d’Alene. The course also features one of the most unique features in all of golf, a floating green on the 14th hole.