Cougars Finish 14th in Utah Dixie Classic
ST. GEORGE -- BYU closed out its spring season of team invitationals with its Utah Dixie Classic played at Sunbrook G.C. on Tuesday and is looking on to prep for the Mountain West Conference Championship.
The Cougars finished in the middle of the pack after shooting 313-316-313--942 to place 14th out of 22 teams.
"We played about the same as yesterday, which was just average," said assistant coach Dave DeSantis. "And this morning we got off to a pretty slow start."
BYU's leading Cougars on the top-five team were sophomores Natalie Newren and Margaret Gibby, who shot 76-82-75--233 and 77-75-81--233 to place tied for 31st.
"I was not pleased with my ball-striking today and only birdied twice," Gibby said. "However, my chipping was solid, which made up for the poor iron shots, which helped me to get up and down and save some pars. Plus, I learned that it's very challenging to play 27 holes because it's mentally tiring."
DeSantis noticed the same problem of mental exhaustion in many of the finishing scores.
"All the teams' last round scores are so much higher, which I believe it to be because of fatigue," DeSantis said. "But that didn't stop Danielle [von Arnim], our brightest spot for BYU."
Freshman Danielle von Arnim, playing as an individual, was the low scoring BYU player. Von Arnim carded a career-low 72 in her first round on Monday and finished out with a 79 and 76 (227-total) to finish tied for 11th, another career low.
"I'm thrilled to finish in the top 20," von Arnim said. "Today went well because I hit more fairways, but I lost it at the end. My plan for this week is to work on my short game so that I will be prepared for Conference."
Also playing on the top-five BYU team along with Newren and Gibby, was freshmen Catalina Guacaneme and Symantha Mendenhall. The two Cougars shot 80-81-76--237 and 80-78-81--239 to finish tied for 46th and 58th. Natalie Newren's sister, Nicole, finished tied for 89th (82-87-81--250).
After a long but close battle, UNLV pulled ahead of San Francisco to win the championship with a three-stroke lead. UNLV fired a solid 307-307-292--906. Yet, San Francisco's Jordan Auten, who lead the tournament and was tied with her teammate after yesterday, won the tournament individually with a stellar and consistent 73-72-73--218.
BYU's next tournament will be the Mountain West Conference Championship on April 24-26.
"Our next focus is winning the Conference Championship," DeSantis said. "I believe that is what it is going to take for us to move on to the NCAA Regionals. We have about 10 days to prepare for that."
finish top 20 schools scores1 UNLV 307 307 292 906 +42
2 San Francisco 296 307 306 909 +45
3 Denver, Univ. of 308 299 311 918 +54
4 Colorado, U. of 303 320 303 926 +62
5 Nevada, U. of 301 308 318 927 +63
T6 Portland State 313 301 315 929 +65
T6 CSU-Northridge 305 310 286 615 +65
T8 San Diego State 317 301 312 930 +66
T8 Idaho, Univ. 303 317 310 930 +66
T10 Washington St. 308 312 314 934 +70
T10 UC Irvine 299 308 327 934 +70
12 Colorado State 316 307 284 623 +71
13 Campbell Univ. 320 312 305 937 +73
14 Brigham Young 313 316 313 942 +78
15 Hawaii, Univ. 313 322 294 635 +93
T16 Weber State 324 307 328 959 +95
T16 Boise State 318 327 314 959 +95
18 Montana 320 317 332 969 +105
19 Montana State 324 333 340 997 +133
20 Wyoming 338 325 341 1004 +140
21 Idaho State Univ.341 353 341 1035 +171
22 Mesa State 351 354 356 1061 +197
Team and Player Scores
1 UNLV 307 307 292 906
T6 Sunny Oh 72 77 75 224
T6 Elena Kurokawa 76 78 70 224
T15 Christine Hentzner 79 74 75 228
T46 Tina Mabanta 80 78 79 237
T46 Hwanhee Lee 82 83 72 237
2 San Francisco 296 307 306 909
1 Jordan Auten 73 72 73 218
T18 Joan M. Shimozaki 71 80 78 229
T36 Lyndsey Devenish77 76 81 234
T39 Susannah Laing 75 81 79 235
T42 Lisa Chen 81 79 76 236
3 Denver 308 299 311 918
T11 Sara Silva 74 74 79 227
T11 Kate Waggoner 81 71 75 227
T29 Tessa Gillam 76 77 79 232
T29 Kelly Schaub 77 77 78 232
T71 Christine Anast 81 84 79 244
4 Colorado 303 320 303 926
T15 Erin Kerr 75 82 71 228
T24 Allison Rella 74 78 79 231
T39 Joey Stester 76 82 77 235
T46 Maria Perrson-Gulda 78 79 80 237
T46 Jolene Fellhauer 80 81 76 237
5 Nevada, U. of 301 308 318 927
T9 Erin LaPlaunt 74 74 78 226
T20 Meghan Ingalls 76 78 76 230
T39 Jennie Peek 77 78 80 235
T54 Alana Condon 74 80 84 238
T95 Chandeni Gill 83 78 92 253
6 Portland State Univ. 313 301 315 929
T15 Taya Battistella 76 74 78 228
T24 Rebecca Randolph 80 76 75 231
T42 Sarah Tiller 77 76 83 236
T54 Jeana Lee 81 75 82 238
T60 Bobbi Dunn 80 80 80 240
T7 San Diego State Univ 317 301 312 930
T6 Sandy Kim 78 71 75 224
T42 Shayna Miyajima 80 77 79 236
T54 Jennifer Hoene 81 75 82 238
T62 Claire Riley 78 78 85 241
T62 Toni Lutz 84 81 76 241
T7 CSU
