Concordia's Sara Molyneux will enter the final round of play in 20th place.
Concordia Eyes Top 10 Heading into Final Round of NAIA Women’s Golf Championships
RESULTS
GREENEVILLE, Tenn.—In the last group to tee-off on Thursday, the Concordia University women’s golf team fired a 30-over 322 in the third round of play to maintain a top-15 position at the NAIA National Championships held at Link Hills Golf & Country Club.
After back-to-back 311’s to start the tournament, Concordia carded a 322 on Thursday to fall two spots in the team standings to 13th place overall out of 28 qualified teams.
The Cavaliers will start the final day of competition four strokes back of the 10th-place team from Cumberlands (308-311-321—940).
The Cavs have finished in the top 10 at nationals on three occasions. In their first year in attendance at the culminating event in 2005, Concordia placed eighth overall. The team placed seventh in 2009 and fifth in 2010 before slipping to 13th place last year.
British Columbia (305-299-304—908) maintained the overall lead in the team race by the slimmest of margins as the Thunderbirds will take a one-stroke lead over Savannah College of Art & Design (310-295-304—909) after both squads turned in 12-over 304s. Shorter (298-308-310—916) and William Woods (303-304-310—917) fell off the pace slightly in the third round with a 310s and will enter the final tour eight and nine strokes back of the leaders.
CU sophomore Sunny Powers (74-72-78—224) continued her strong play with the team’s low round for the third straight day, posting a 5-over 78 to rest in eighth place out of 144 entered individuals. Powers shares eighth place with Kylie Barros (79-73-72—224), the returning NAIA national champion from British Columbia, and the returning national runner-up from Dakota Wesleyan, Danielle Bellet (77-75-72—224)
With 18 holes left to play, Powers is on the verge of recording the best all-time individual finish in Concordia history. Former Cavalier and current assistant coach Lindsay Aho holds the top two finishes at nationals after placing 13th in 2008 and 16th in 2009 for the only two top-20 occurrences in school history.
Also in the hunt for the Concordia’s all-time best finish is senior Sara Molyneux (76-74-79—229) after firing a 6-over 79 on Thursday afternoon. Through 54 holes of play, Molyneux is tied for 20th place and just five strokes back of her teammate. In three previous efforts, Molyneux has a career-best 27th-place finish at nationals which occurred during her sophomore campaign. Powers placed 40th last season as a true freshman.
Concordia’s third and fourth scorers came from Jenna Boyle (81-83-81—245) with an 8-over 81 and Holly Speer (80-82-84—246) with an 11-over 84. Madison Alamillo (85-85-87—257) finished two strokes back from her scores in her initial two rounds with an 14-over 87.
Victoria’s Megan Woodland (73-70-76—219) holds the overall lead with a one-stroke separation over Oklahoma Christian’s Anna Arrese Cortadellas (74-73-73—220) and Oklahoma City’s Jessica Schile (77-68-75—220).
Representing the Cascade Collegiate Conference along with Concordia, College of Idaho (318-333-346—997) fell two more spots on Thursday with a team score of 346 and was one of 11 teams to miss the cut to advance to the fourth and final round. Trish Gibbens (72-82-80—234) continues to lead the Yotes after ending the day tied for 37th and will continue on to Friday’s finale. Baylee Borchers (77-84-77—238) fired the best round of the day for C of I with a 4-over 78 and was one of the last individuals to not advance.