RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Lewis-Clark State College women’s golf team remained in contention for having its best showing ever at the NAIA National Golf Championships as the Warriors stand ninth heading into the tournament’s final round.
LCSC shot a team score of 328 during Thursday’s third round at the Meadowbrook Golf Course. The day featured calmer winds from Wednesday, but the conditions have dried out the greens and made them hard and fast, LCSC women’s coach Steve Tilden said.
After 54 holes, the Warriors have a team score of 982, which leaves them two shots behind Concordia of Oregon, and five shots behind Berry of Georgia. California State-San Marcos, which began the day tied with LCSC for seventh place overall, moved into sixth place at 972, 10 shots ahead of LCSC.
The Warriors’ best finish in the tournament came three years ago when they finished seventh. Picking up six shots to move into seventh, or 11 to gain the sixth spot, is certainly within LCSC’s reach during Friday’s final round, Tilden said.
“I’m really happy where we are at and the girls know they can jump up and make a run at those spots,” he said.
The Warriors had to do that during Thursday’s round. LCSC played the back nine first and ever player posted a score in the 40s. Senior Katie Fuqua had the best score with a 41.
“I told the girls at the break they were going to have to play better on the second nine and they did,” Tilden said. “We played much better on the second nine.”
Both Fuqua and Juanita Villa shot 39s on the front, while Chantelle Beveridge had a 40, and Cortney Shrout and Madeline Jarrett finished with 41s.
Fuqua led LCSC on Thursday with an 80, while Beveridge had an 82. Shrout and Villa finished with 83s, while Jarrett had an 85.
Overall, Villa leads the Warriors at 243, which is 27 shots over par and tied for 31st overall. Beveridge stands in a tie for 42nd place at 246, while Shrout is a shot behind at 247. Fuqua is at 250 and Jarrett is at 256.
The top two golfers are both from Oklahoma City as Sydney Cox leads the way with a 7-over-par 223. OCU leads the team standings by 24 shots over Bethel of Indiana. British Columbia is now in fifth place, 22 shots ahead of LCSC.
Fellow Frontier Conference member Rocky Mountain wound up placing 21st in the tournament at 1,036. The field for Friday’s final round was trimmed to the top 17 teams, which mean 11 teams wound up play on Thursday, including Rocky Mountain.
