Junior Lacy Sheldon (tie for 6th) & senior Nicole Miller (tie for 9th) finished in the top 10 at the Dixie State Fall Invitational. PHOTO: WWU Athletics
Vikings Move Up To Finish 3rd at Dixie State Fall Invite
October 2, 2018
HURRICANE, Utah – Led by a pair of top 10 finishes from junior Lacy Sheldon and senior Nicole Miller, the Western Washington University women’s golf team finished 3rd out of 10 teams at the Dixie State Fall Invitational at Sand Hollow Golf Course.
WWU moved up two spots on the leaderboard with Tuesday’s team score of 13-over-par 301 to finish in 3rd place, the third-lowest score of the final round. Academy of Art (+9, 585) and Cal State East Bay (+14, 590) finished in the top two spots.
The Vikings were paced by a pair of top-10 finishes, with Sheldon (Dallas, TX/Legacy Christian/Montevallo) tying for 6th at 4-over-par 148 and Miller (Renton, WA/Kennedy Catholic/North Idaho College) tying for 9th at 5-over-par 149. Miller fired an ever-par round of 72 in the final round, the third-lowest score of the day.
Sheldon, the GNAC Women’s Golfer of the Week, has placed 3rd and 6th in her first two tournaments, with a season scoring average of 72.75.
“I am really happy with how the team is playing and how they finished today,” said head coach Bo Stephan. “Today we got off to a slow start, but we hung in there, and battled until the end. They fought hard and that’s all you can ask, and they were rewarded with a good result. Through the first two tournaments, the results have been very positive and they are playing with confidence."
Senior Annie Leete (Oak Harbor, WA) finished in 18th place in the 60-player field, turning in rounds of 76 (+4) and 77 (+5) to finish at 9-over-par 153. Junior Brianne Esvelt (Kennewick, WA/Kamiakin/Columbia Basin College) finished tied for 25th at 12-over-par 156 and senior Hannah Drake (Pocatello, ID/Century) rounded out the Viking contingent tying for 32nd at 15-over-par 159.
All five WWU golfers fired sub-80 rounds in Tuesday’s final round.
"The consistency has been very nice, and to be honest, something we haven’t seen the last few years,” added Stephan. “And I don't think they are peaking by any means. The best golf is still in front of this group and they have big upside. They are playing solid, but I think they will just battle for better finishes. The sky is the limit for this group."
Academy of Art’s Anahi Servin won individual medalist honors finishing at 2-under-par 142, including a 2-under-par 70 in the final round. Kaitlynn Deeble (Dixie State) and Yu Hsin Chang (Cal State East Bay) tied for 2nd at even-par 144.
The Vikings host the WWU Invitational next week (Oct. 8-9) at Bellingham Golf & Country Club with a 9:30 shotgun start scheduled for each round. The fall season concludes Oct. 29-30 at the Cal State San Marcos Fall Classic at Woods Valley Golf Course in Valley Center, California.
The complete 2018-19 season schedule, team roster and updated season statistics provided by Golfstat can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/WGolf.
