RAPID CITY, S.D. – Senior Juanita Villa shot the third best round of the day to help the Lewis-Clark State College women’s golf team remain in contention for a possible top six finish after two rounds of the NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships at the Meadowbrook Golf Course.
Despite constant 30-40-mile hour winds, Villa came up with a solid 4-over-par 76 to help the Warriors stand in a tie with California State-San Marcos for seventh place halfway through the tournament. LCSC’s highest finish in the tournament came three years ago when it finished seventh.
Villa opened with a bogey but birdied the next hole and wound up with a 1-over-par 37 on the front side. She kept it there until a double-bogey on the 14th hole. She also three-putted two of the final three holes for bogeys, but birdied the 17th hole for her solid round.
“Juanita played fabulous considering the conditions,” LCSC women’s coach Steve Tilden said. “The wind was blowing and there were such strong wind gusts that I was actually sitting in a cart and the wind pushed the cart backward.
Villa was the only Warrior to improve her score from the first round as the Warriors shot a team score of 335 on Wednesday, 16 shots higher than their opening round. The 654 total left them just four shots behind Berry College of Georgia and just 19 shots behind Embry Riddle of Florida, which is in fifth place
Chantelle Beveridge and Madeline Jarrett both carded 86s for LCSC on Wednesday, while Cortney Shrout had an 87 and Katie Fuqua a 90.
Concordia of Portland, Ore., stands in ninth place one shot behind LCSC and Cal State-San Marcos.
Oklahoma City continues to lead the field with a 613 total, while the University of British Columbia is second at 630. The University of Victoria fell into a tie for 10th at 660, while fellow Frontier Conference competitor Rocky Mountain is 20th at 684.
LCSC, Cal State-San Marcos and Concordia will be the final three teams to tee off on Thursday, starting at 2:20 p.m. Central time.
