Ephs Finish 5th at NCAA Championship

LEADERBOARD


EAST LANSING, Mich. – On the fourth and final day of the NCAA Championship at the Forest Akers West Golf Course the Williams Ephs shot their best team score of the four-day event, 312, and finished in fifth place. Over the four rounds the Ephs tallied a team score of 1,268.
 
Methodist University (N.C.) won the championship with a four-day team score of 1,231.
 
This marks the ninth consecutive year that Williams has finished fifth or higher at the NCAA Championship.
 
Junior Olivia White led Williams today with a four over par 76. White was two over on the front nine and two over on the back nine. She registered three birdies on the day, but also had a double bogey mixed in with nine pars, five bogeys, and one double bogey. Overall White finished 18^th in the field in the individual scoring.
 
Senior Stella Woo in her final competition representing the purple and gold fired a 77 going two over on the front nine and three over on the back nine. Woo finished tied for 24^th in individual scoring. Stella Woo commented, "It was so great to be a part of the team this week, my second time competing at the national championship. I definitely felt less nervous than the last time and was overall determined to perform my best golf I could out there. It's always a great time seeing the team fighting for the same goal since it certainly is a physically and mentally draining week. I'm proud of our performance this week, fifth nationally given the unprecedented nature of this year overall. Forest Akers was a challenging course and I'm just so proud of the fact that all of us never gave up and really grinded through the rounds until the very end. Didn't get the win this year but I know it is looming over the Ephs, waiting for us very soon."
 
Freshman Tianyi Zhuang shot a seven over par 79 today. She was three over par on the front nine and four over par on the back nine. Zhuang tied for 36^th place in the individual scoring.
 
Sophomore Malini Rudra made the turn three over par, but a five over par second nine left her at 80 on the day. In the individual scoring Rudra tied for 24^th pace.
 
Freshman Melinda Yuan also made the turn at three over, but struggled on the back nine where she was seven over par and she carded an 82 and she finished in 30^th place in the individual scoring.
 
"We had a lot of fun today and it's been so great to see the team grow closer this week," said Eph head coach Tomas Adalsteinsson. "Before coming here we had only played six one-day events, with no overnights in over 18 months. So, the fact that the team still performed as well as they did is something we can all be proud of. This will be a valuable experience for those players returning, and we will miss Stella Woo and our three other seniors Gabby Martin, Holly Davenport, and Mehr Sawant. We are thankful we even got to compete this spring and we're already looking forward to a full schedule in the fall."
 
Over the four-day event Williams was ranked 12^th in scoring on par three holes with an average score of 3.54. On par fours the Ephs ranked fourth and averaged 4.49. The Ephs performed their best on par five holes ranking third overall and averaging 5.25 a hole.
 
The Ephs posted a third best total of 193 pars with Stella Woo leading with 40 and they also tallied 20 birdies, with Olivia White the team leader with eight.