Thursday, October 9, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Saint Martin’s women’s golf team stroked the ball well this week, winning the Saint Martin’s Invitational on Monday and Tuesday by 30 shots.

All five Saint Martin’s golfers finished in the top 10, including individual winner Jennifer Liedes. Outshooting the field by 15 strokes, Liedes was the only competitor to finish under par earning her the GNAC Golfer of the Week award.

Liedes, a junior transfer from the University of Washington, shot a 74 and 70 for a two-round total of 144. Only three other golfers finished a round in the 70’s, two of them also came from SMU.

Sarah Salvatori had a great second round of 77 after shooting an 86 in the opener. Salvatori finished in fourth place while fellow junior Gracie Dyer placed sixth. The Saints Chloe Read carded a 167 to finish tied for seventh while the other SMU golfer to shoot a round in the 70’s, Lisa Zelasko, finished tied for ninth.

As a team, the Saints ended the invitational with a score of 632, which was 30 strokes less than runner-up Simon Fraser and 63 strokes better than the third place team.

Simon Fraser finished second with two golfers in the top three spots individually. Honorable mention Golfer of the Week Mackenzie Field scored a 159 to place in second at the invite. The Clan’s Breanna Croxen has had a quality outing as well by shooting a 161, finishing in third place.

This was Northwest Nazarene’s first event of the fall. Placing in fourth with a two-round score of 698, the Crusaders were led by honorable mention Golfer of the Week Samantha Miller, who tied for seventh with a score of 167.

Earlier in the week, Saint Martin’s and Western Washington competed at the Golfweek Invitational in Sunriver, Ore.

Western Washington had a very good second round, being one of five teams to shoot under 300 in round 2, on its way to a seventh place finish. The Vikings were led by last year’s GNAC Golfer of the Year, Kristen Hansen, who finished tied for seventh. Hansen was the GNAC’s only top 10 finisher at the event, but the Vikings Jenn Paul was close placing in 11th at seven over par.

Saint Martin’s opened its fall season at this event, placing in 12th. Liedes once again led the Saints as she tied for 22nd with a low round of 72.

The Montana State Billings women's golf team competed in two tournaments in late September and early October.

The Yellowjackets traveled to Grand Junction, Colo. to compete in the Colorado Mesa Invitational where the team placed in ninth. Katie Fish led the team, tying for 12th.

A week later the team hosted the MSUB Invitational where it out-performed the competition for the win. The Yellowjackets finished 48 strokes under the second-place finisher, which was led by Haley Shackelford’s first-place tie. Shackelford lost a one-hole tiebreak to be the outright individual winner.

Northwest Nazarene and Western Washington will be the next two GNAC teams in action as they travel to Utah Monday to compete in the Dixie State Fall Invitational. A week later, Simon Fraser will participate in the Victoria Invitational in Victoria, BC.