RESULTS
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (October 9, 2019) -Â Sophomore's
Ashley Croft and
Elle Kocourkova placed in a tie for eighth-place on the player leaderboard as the Northern Arizona women's golf team finished in fourth with a collective 32-over performance at the NM State Aggie Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M., on Wednesday.
Host New Mexico State would take home the tournament title taking first at three-under par (861) as a team. Utah Valley (+30, 894) and UTEP (+31, 895) placed second and third as the only teams to finish ahead of the 'Jacks. During the third round of play NAU was 12-over (300) for the second straight round moving them from second-place to fourth.
The Aggie Invite was the second top-four team finish of the 2019 fall season for NAU.
Croft collected her first top-10 finish of the 2019 fall season after shooting for three-under (69) in the third round. It was the lowest round of her collegiate career. She recorded four birdies on the front nine to propel her from 15th-place to eighth on the final day. She would end the Aggie Invite at three-over (219).
"Ashley had a good mindset after she shot for bogey on first hole," said head women's golf coach
Brad Bedortha. "She bounced back and handled herself really well. For her to have a career low round today was a really big deal."
After a phenomenal first two rounds, Kocourkova had a four-over (76) showing in the third round earning her a tie for eighth-place. She carded rounds of 70-73-76 (+3, 219) to end the Aggie Invite with her best collegiate performance so far. At the 'Jacks last tournament, Kocourkova also finished in a tie for 10th-place, making this her second top-10 showing of the 2019 fall season.
"Out of the 100 people in field it was pretty impressive to have both Ashley and Elle in the top-10," added Bedortha. "Elle struggled on the back nine but she had a strong enough performance throughout the tournament that she still finished really good."
Fellow sophomore
Aleksandra Chekalina posted a seven-over 79 in the last round to finish at 14-over par and tied for 35
th individually. Seniors
Emma Reyes and
Morgan Messick shot eight-over and four-over, respectively, in the last round. Reyes finished at 17-over and tied for 47th on the player leaderboard, while Messick tied for 55th-place at 18-over.Â
Freshman
Alyza Flores (+16, 232) and Junior
Sara Padilla (+20, 236) competed unattached and finished in ties for 42nd and 60th-place respectively.
" We have some decisions to make in terms of our lineup moving forward," concluded Bedortha. "The competution is really tight and I liked what I saw in regards to some similar situations we were put in at our last tournament in Utah. We have been performing better in certain positions and its nice to see some progress from the roster as a whole."
The Lumberjacks will return to the golf course on Oct. 20-22 for the 42nd Annual FIU Pat Bradley Invitational hosted by Florida International in Bradenton, Fla.
For all the latest up-to-date information regarding the NAU golf program follow @NAUGolf on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and at NAUAthletics.com.
